Darkness and Dreams
by ADreamingSongbird
Summary: The Batterwitch rules the star system with an iron claw. Four young men and women are determined to set the world to rights by igniting the spark of revolution, but they are few and have little training in either their magical abilities or running a rebellion. And is that prophecy ever going to come true? (Full summary inside! Starring the kids; not ship-driven.)
1. Chapter 1: Meet Jane

_Author's Note: _This is a little bit of a complicated AU, at least in my head! Basically, on some unknown planet in a star system that's controlled by the empire of the Batterwitch, society is ruled by an iron fist and divided into classes. No one knows the original basis for this class system, but now, if you're born in a caste, you stay there. Many people are born with inherent magical gifts, but those with useful ones are usually taken from their homes and never seen again. Rumor has it they serve the Batterwitch's guard or army or personal service, depending on the ability-healers are usually sent to the battlefront, for example, as are seers, while conjurers can be kept in the castle to maintain an endless supply of anything she might want. The people under the Empress are desperate and miserable; they are ready for change.

Jane Crocker and Jake English both reside in the lower district of the city. They are both fortunate enough not to live in the dark districts, a place infamous for its extreme poverty, high crime rate, and higher fatality rate. If you go into the dark districts, chances are you won't come out. They are the most dangerous part of the city, and everyone who grows up there is hard and cruel. Even so, Jane and Jake have difficult lives, with long, wearying jobs from dawn til dusk every day. Jane has a strong magical talent for healing. Jake has some sort of magic, but no one really knows what it does-he has been able to do things from conjure lights to somehow inspire people to follow him.

Roxy Lalonde and Dirk Strider both live in the upper district. Dirk is a student of robotics and engineering with a fiery passion and gift for captivating audiences, while Roxy is a cunning student of law who often hides her intellect behind a bottle or three. Their lives are much easier than their companions', but that doesn't mean they support the rule of the Batterwitch. The law of the land is corrupt and unfair. Dirk, like Jake, has somewhat inscrutable magic. Roxy suspects his power has something to do with both influencing people and some sort of ability to get into their heads, but not quite-but no one has really seen it in action. Roxy's powers include conjuring little green cubes and vegetables, and did she somehow turn her hand invisible once?

Together, these four unlikely compatriots hope to be the spearhead of the movement heralding change in their society-and perhaps, while they're at it, the prophecy declaring the arrival of powerful mages to alter the fate of the world might come true. Amidst it all, whispers persist in the dark, rumors of a shadowy fear of the unfamiliar but terrifying figure of nightmares: Lord English, the demon prince, who returns to end the world...

* * *

Jane Crocker adjusted the hood covering her face, removing her glasses and slipping them into her pocket. The long brown robe and cloak were inconspicuous enough to hide her, so long as nothing else—like the sheen of glass in the street light, or the glint of jewelry—stood out. Satisfied with her appearance, she nodded at the girl in the mirror and stepped outside into the stone pavement, locking her apartment behind her. This was the lower district, which no one really saw fit to upgrade to the electronic suites, so she actually had to keep a physical key on her person, unlike the person she was going to meet.

But she wasn't heading to the upper districts; instead, Jane ducked into a winding alley, keeping her head down and tread light and fast. Left turn here, right here, next right past this one, down the steps, through the tunnel, left turn again, find the appropriate disguised wall panel... here! Fumbling around in the dark was annoying, but it was better than hanging a light out here, or even bringing one, that might attract attention.

A small section of wall slid inwards, though in the pitch black of the tunnels she couldn't tell anything save the little _whoosh_ of air it made. Jane carefully walked into the newly revealed hallway and stood still. The section of wall seamlessly slid back into place, as if it had never moved to begin with. In the hidden room on the other side, a dim light appeared, beckoning her down some more stairs.

A minute or so of walking down the corridor later, Jane arrived at the room she was looking for. It was bright, spacious, and warm and welcoming, walls white with "windows" supplied by Roxy that showed images of beautiful places elsewhere, and piles of cushions dotted the floor between couches and tables. In one corner was a kitchenette, complete with a stove and several cabinets stocked with food.

Roxy herself sat sprawled on one of those piles of cushions. "Janey!" she exclaimed, sitting up as Jane entered with a friendly wave. "I was wondering when you would show up."

"Sorry," Jane came to sit on the floor too. "I left home a bit late. Lil' Seb was causing a mess!" Lil Sebastian was a present from one of their friends. He kept Jane's home secure, even if he was a bit of a headache at times. Silly little rabbit robot.

"Ohhhh," Roxy nodded understandingly. "Robots can be ridiculous, right?"

"Right," Jane sighed. "So, why did you call me over early?"

"I just missed you!" Suddenly she was pressed against her friend in a spontaneous embrace. "It's been so long since we just hung out, you know?"

Jane laughed. "Yes, you're right, it has. –Oh, Roxy, let go for a second! I put my glasses in my pocket."

Once they were on her face, the room was in much better focus. There were leaves on the trees in the pictures on the walls! Who would've thought.

"So, how was your day?" Jane asked, settling onto the cushions next to Roxy.

Roxy rolled her eyes, taking a delicate sip of the martini next to her. "Boring. We did nothing in classes, as usual. It's a good thing I'm here and not just in university, because how else would I ever get to use my mad skills?" she snorted. "How was your day, Janey?"

"Not that great. I worked at a soup kitchen today... I know I don't need to tell you this, but there are so many people miserable out there! No matter how much food I made there were always still more hungry in line. It's so sad!" she sighed. Roxy patted her hand sympathetically.

"It'll get better. We're making it better, remember?"

Jane nodded, still looking unsatisfied. "I know... I just wish it were faster or something!"

"So do I, so do I."

"I know, it can't be, I know. It's just so hard seeing people like that."

"Jane, your heart is just too big for this world," Roxy sighed, poking Jane's nose.

Jane giggled. "Don't tell me yours isn't!"

"Did I ever say that?" Roxy winked cheekily. "But really. You're too nice to everyone! It worries me sometimes."

Jane smiled sheepishly, biting her lip for just a second. There was something she wasn't telling her friend... it involved her being "too nice" and also how that might come back to haunt her. She just _knew_ Roxy would disapprove and want to protect her, but it was something important enough that Jane felt it was quite necessary to do! Neither Roxy nor Dirk knew, for that matter; only Jake had any idea, and he didn't like it, either. But he didn't try to stop her, at least.

Roxy narrowed her eyes. "Janey," she said accusingly. "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"What? Me? No, never!" Jane laughed nervously, shaking her head a little too enthusiastically.

"Jane."

"I'm not, seriously!"

"Janey, you are the worst liar I've ever met. What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing!" Jane tried again, giving Roxy a winning, innocent smile.

"_Jane._"

Jane fidgeted. "Ha, there is really nothing at all that you should be suspicious about! You're just... you're being overzealous, that's all!"

Roxy leveled a stern look at her. "Now, see here, missy!" she wagged a finger at Jane, then took a large sip from her martini. "You are an awful liar, and I am saddened," she dramatically cast her hand to her forehead, "that you thought I would fall for that! Not only do I need to give you lessons on how to more convincingly lie to people, but seriously, what are you hiding?"

Jane bit her lip again. "Um... nothing much, just... something... I... yeah."

Roxy had just opened her mouth to say something else when the screen by the door pinged to say that someone had just opened the outer door.

The regular meeting wasn't for an hour yet...

Jane felt her heart leap to her throat. On the one hand, this provided an excellent opportunity to hide her little secret from Roxy—but who was there?

Exchanging glances, they both quickly lowered the lights and stood on opposite sides of the door from the main hallway, the only apparent way into the room, each holding something that could possibly function as a weapon—Jane a little knife from her boot, and Roxy a wine bottle.

Footsteps approached.

Just as they were about to tackle the mystery intruder, he called out: "Dirk? Roxy? Jane? Are you here?"

Both girls breathed sighs of relief, melting away from the shadows to the main room again and turning the lights back on properly.

"Shucks, Jake!" Jane scolded. "You nearly gave us both a heart attack!"

Jake stood in the doorway, looking halfway between bemused and worried. "I do apologize," he said sheepishly. "But we are meeting today, are we not?"

"Yeah, but not for another hour. We weren't expecting you!"

"I was not expecting you either! I just knew something was up because I could have sworn the lights were on a moment back."

Jane and Roxy exchanged sheepish glances. "Oops. I guess we didn't act fast enough."

Jake shrugged, plopping down on the couch. "At least nothing did happen," he pointed out. "So are you ladies the only ones here, or is Dirk also?"

"Just us, having some nice lady time, you know, talking about girl things and hanging out in a female fashion," Roxy replied. Jake blushed.

"Sorry, I just didn't see the point of going home now, since I was already on this side of town, so..."

Jake's home was a longer walk from the hide-out, about twenty minutes. He and Jane lived near each other in the lower quarter, while Roxy and Dirk lived in the upper.

"It's okay, you can be a lady too, Jake," Roxy grinned. "Just put on a dress and some makeup. And smooch Dirk when he walks in."

Jane choked. Jake blushed deeper. Roxy's grin grew.

"Make sure you put on way too much lipstick first too, or even better let me do it for you," she continued loftily. "And we can put some on Janey as well and _everyone _smooches Dirk, so he can have three kisses from three lovely ladies!"

"Jane," Jake said, "I do believe Roxy is slightly drunk again. Is she?"

"When is she not?" Jane asked in reply, shaking her head.

"That is a good point," Roxy interjected. "I'm only slightly drunk. I should get more drunk. Oh, but we have a meeting, so I can't! See, only tipsy for now."

Jane groaned. "You are ridiculous, Ro-Lal."

Roxy grinned again. "Thank you, thank you."

"That was not supposed to be a compliment..."

"It totally was!"

"No..."

"Was too!"

"No, not really."

"Yes it was!" Roxy sang. "Also, Jake! Jane has some sort of little secret that she's not telling me. Has something to do with her being too nice to everyone."

Jane froze, then smacked Roxy with a pillow. "Shush! Drop it already!"

"And suddenly," the taller girl noted, "you stop denying it in front of Jake. Could it be," she continued, her gaze sliding to Jake, "that you already know?"

"I said, _drop _it!" Jane complained. "It's not that big a deal, but you'd be mad at me."

"Is this about—oh. Oh my," Jake interrupted, looking at Jane with wide eyes. "You mean you didn't tell them? Jane, I think you really ought to, what if something happens and I can't get to you—"

"Shush!" Jane cried again. "I'll tell them when I feel like they won't get mad at me over it."

"If it's not a big deal, why can't you say?" Roxy prodded.

Jane's gaze flickered between both of her friends, then dropped to her hands. "I..."

"Jane," Jake said quietly. "I hope you realize we're only concerned for you."

"Later."

"Jane—"

"I said, I'll tell you later."

"When's later?" Roxy frowned, her hands on her hips now. The empty glass which had held the martini lay on the floor, discarded.

"Um... next week, after the big rally? When we're less stressed out?" Hopefully they'd have forgotten by next week.

Roxy narrowed her eyes, then made the 'I'll be watching you' gesture with two fingers. "Fine, but whatever it is, you be careful, understand?"

"I promise," she said with relief.

"Good! Now, back to doing lady things, right?"

Jane laughed. "Yes. Hey, did you restock the kitchen after last meeting? I could bake some cupcakes or something!"

Roxy squealed and tackled Jane for another spontaneous hug. "You are the absolute best, Janey! Let's have sugar. Jake, what do you say?"

"Boy howdy, yes, I would love some cupcakes! You wouldn't mind making them, Jane, would you?" he said eagerly, sitting up straighter.

Jane laughed. "Of course not! You know I love baking!" She lightly stepped past the sofa on which he sat, ruffling his hair playfully as she passed on her way to the kitchen. "Come on, Ro-Lal! You can help me measure ingredients. Jake, you look like you're dead on your feet! Take a nap or something?"

"Righty-ho, brilliant suggestion," he agreed.

Eventually poor Jake, bored of waiting and tired from a hard day's work, fell asleep on the sofa.

Upon seeing him there, Jane set down the tray of freshly baked chocolate cupcakes and considered him, then grinned deviously. "I'll be nice and get him a blanket," she decided. "But also... it's Crocker prank time!" she crowed. Roxy guffawed.

"Yes, yes, yes, go get him!"

A few minutes later, an elaborate hand-drawn mustache resided on Jake's face. Jane surveyed her work, then spread a wool blanket over her sleeping friend. Roxy also took it upon herself to paint his nails hot pink, then decided to paint Jane's too—sky blue for her.

"Perfect," Jane said in satisfaction as she put the marker back in the drawer from which it originated, being very careful not to smudge her nails.

"I can't wait to see his face when he wakes up," Roxy giggled, taking a bite of a cupcake.

Jane flopped onto the cushions next to Roxy. "So... what do we do now?"

Roxy eyed her, grinning with the same devious intent that moments before had shone in Jane's blue eyes.

Jane edged away suspiciously. "Oh no, what're you about to—hey!"

Roxy cackled, licking the excess frosting from her finger. She had swiped it through the layered frosting on the cupcake and then poked Jane's nose again, leaving a little dollop of pink cream there.

Jane laughed and reached up to wipe it off, but instead at the last second lunged forward to swipe some more cream and smeared it over Roxy's cheek.

A frosting war ensued after that and after a good twenty or thirty minutes went by in that fashion, they both finally went to clean up. Luckily, Jane baked lots of cupcakes and five remained untouched.

They slumped onto the couch together, clothes covered in water here and there from washing out frosting. "So," Jane said after a moment, starting to giggle again at the sheer absurdity of having a frosting battle with your good friend while trying to plan a revolution. "What now?"

Roxy shrugged. "We've gotta wait til Dirk gets here, so... Cards?"


	2. Chapter 2: Revolutionaries

They had just finished the fifth game when the screen pinged again. That was most likely Dirk.

Indeed, the final member of their group entered the hideout not long after, taking in the sleeping Jake (covered by that woolen blanket, because Jane said they could still be nice while pranking) and card-playing Roxy and Jane in a glance.

"Hi, Dirk," Jane greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Jane, Roxy," he replied, crossing the room to come sit next to them. "How long has he—" he gestured to Jake's prone form "—been out?"

"About twenty, thirty minutes," Jane answered. "Should we wake him up?"

"Well, we _are_ having a meeting, so that might be beneficial." Dirk was nothing if not a master of sass when he wanted to be.

Roxy turned to gently shake Jake. "Hey, sleepyhead," she sing-songed. "Wake up!"

"Hmm... Oh. 'm awake, I'm awake," Jake mumbled, opening his eyes. "Where are my glasses?"

Jane passed them to him, exchanging glances with Roxy. Dirk noticed that and then the mustache, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Oh for heaven's sake. Jake, did you really fall asleep when—"

"Shhh!" Roxy interrupted, smacking him with a pillow. "We're nice, Dirk. Even when there is a meeting scheduled, we let poor Jake sleep."

"Oh, is it already meeting time? I'm dreadfully sorry if I delayed us!" Jake said, putting his glasses on. Wait... were his nails—

"_Jane_," he complained.

"What?" she asked innocently, then ruined her façade by giggling. "I didn't do it, honestly! That was Roxy."

"Good gracious, Roxy!" he complained, aghast, as he stared at the ridiculously bright color.

"Janey's idea!"

"Was not!"

"Janey always comes up with the fun ideas though."

"I... don't want to deny that, but on the other hand that really wasn't my idea!"

Dirk just watched the proceedings with amusement, raking a long-fingered hand through his hair. "Guys, guys! Business first, manicures later."

"Wait, before we start business, I made cupcakes!" Jane interjected, beaming and holding out the plate. Five pristine cupcakes remained. A suspicious smudge of frosting marred the edge of the plate; Roxy snickered.

Jake grinned broadly, grabbing one. "Thanks a ton, Jane, you know I absolutely adore your cupcakes!"

"You're welcome!" she laughed, about to say something else when he continued:

"It goes a ways towards settling the score since you either let or urged Roxy to paint my nails pink."

"We have a large rally planned for three days from now in the lower fifth square. Is everyone still okay with that?"

Three heads nodded in unison.

"Excellent."

"I've been spreading the word as best as I can," Jane chimed in. "Several people from my neighborhood are planning to attend, from what I've heard."

"Er, pardon me, but there is one remaining detail that remains obfuscated to me. How exactly are you planning on maintaining anonymity in a rally? Even if we are going to be in the lower districts, the Witch has cameras and spies everywhere." Jake looked a little doubtful.

"Disguises," Dirk said simply. "Hide your face, don't let them see. Plus, _someone _has to stand up on stage and direct the attention of the people, make a statement. It may as well be me. And no, I don't want any of you up there with me!" he added, frowning at them. Roxy opened her mouth to protest, but Dirk shook his head. "It's too dangerous, and I don't want you getting hurt."

"This is a _joint operation_, Dirk," Roxy retorted. "If I want to be up there, I will!"

"We _have _held smaller rallies with all of us on the stage," Jake said reasonably. "Surely even with a larger crowd we can manage?"

"Well, someone should probably stay on lookout, too. And one of us, I mean, not even our supporters..." Jane sighed. "The sad truth is some of them would turn us in for a crust of bread."

"Working on it, Janey," Roxy reiterated, patting Jane's hand.

"I can keep watch," Jake volunteered. "Not cut out for public speaking, me."

"Dirk, I'd like to speak on stage with you," Jane said earnestly. "I think the message will be clearer if we present a united front, upper and lower districts together."

Dirk paused to consider, then sighed and shook his head. "Fine. I don't like it, but it'll be better, like you say."

"Well, I guess I'm stuck with Jake on watch duty and crowd whispering!" Roxy said, sitting back on her heels. "Better keep an eye on those nails, hm, English?"

Jake gave her a wounded look.

A companionable silence fell between them, each pondering the fate of the world on which they lived. The Batterwitch's iron claws pervaded every inch of it, and some places were even worse—there were whispers of substance behind the old tale of Lord English, the supposed rival or even superior of the Batterwitch. But that wasn't really the concern the four here assembled had. They just wanted a free world to live in.

Jane suddenly flopped onto her back, head on Jake's lap as she stared at the ceiling. "Do you think the prophecy will come true in our lifetimes?"

"Gadzooks, Jane! Do you mean to say you doubt it?" Jake exclaimed, looking down at her with an aghast expression.

"I just... we've been waiting years already, and there's been no sign of these legendary heroes that actually can use their powers to do something more useful than conjure up little green cubes or heal things! Are they even real?"

"Hey!" Roxy complained. "I like my little green cubes."

"Healing powers aren't some sort of bad thing," Dirk said mildly.

"But they don't help us _do _anything," Jane sighed, looking at her fingers. "Your power, well, I honestly don't know much about how it works. Or Jake's. You just have them, we know. I can fix a scraped knee or broken arm, sure, and don't get me wrong, I love helping everyone, it's just I feel like if I had different powers maybe I could do something better!"

"Don't worry so much," Jake assured confidently, leaning over to pat her hand. "It'll work out. They'll come soon, you'll see!"

"From where, though? You'd think we'd have heard of them by know. All we know is that they're out there somewhere. Supposedly."

"That is good enough for me!" said a cheerful Jake.

"I hope so," Jane murmured, looking up at him and then grinning at her handiwork—what a fabulous mustache. "By the way, Jake?"

"Yes?"

"Did you look in a mirror recently?"

He frowned. "No, why...?"

"Just do it," she replied, sitting up again and waving him off.

Still bemused, the boy stood and walked to the bathroom.

"_Jaaaane!_"

* * *

Later, they disbanded to go to their homes, agreeing to meet in three days for the rally. It was their largest yet, and the most likely to actually attract some attention from the Batterwitch's forces.

Such was the peril of living in the capital city.

They separated in the tunnels, Jane and Jake turning to the south to reenter the lower districts while Dirk and Roxy continued north.

"Next time you can manage to get some off time, let me know, okay Jane?" Roxy said, pausing to look earnestly in her friend's direction despite the pitch-black surroundings. "We need to have a girls' night or something! Watch a movie, have some cake, whatever. And you can tell me your deepest, darkest secrets," she added pointedly. "Promise?"

"Yeah, of course!" Jane agreed, smiling in the near-darkness. "We can do that soon."

"Great! Okay, bye then!" Roxy skipped forward to hug Jane again, then stepped back, waving.

"Bye, Roxy! Bye, Dirk!" Jane and Jake both called, then went on their way. Jane intertwined her fingers with Jake's.

"How was your day?" she asked him as they walked.

"Laborious, as usual," he sighed, swinging their arms slightly. "But we finished the latest project two days ahead of schedule. The ol' boss was pleased enough that he let us leave early today, which is why I showed up ahead of time!"

"Wow, two days? You guys must have been working around the clock—or, more than usual!"

Jake laughed. "We have, we have! But to be quite fair, Jane, it was also a rather simple project. At least, on our end. I do detest having to work in that deplorable factory making things for her like we do, but..."

Jane squeezed his hand. "We do what we have to to make ends meet. After all, there's no use being a gallant hero if you can't eat, right?"

"Indeed, indeed!"

They emerged from the tunnels into the moonlit streets, illuminated by the occasional streetlamp as well. Jane drew her cloak around herself more closely with one hand, not out of worry of being seen so much as of a want to dispel the chill from the wind. It was early spring, and winter was only beginning to leave. Jake noticed her little shiver, and being the gentleman he was but not having a coat to offer, just released her hand and instead wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Jane smiled up at him gratefully.

"I can't wait for spring to finally get here," she said.

"You want to start planting your flowers, is that so?" Jake chuckled. The previous year, Jane had tried to plant a garden. It had gone well for about a week, until she discovered that she was not only just too busy, but she was also a bad gardener. The time she mixed up the fertilizer and weed-killer served as endless amusement to her friends.

"Oh, hush!" she laughed, feeling her face heat even in the cool wind. "I just want to be warm, no garden this year."

Jake laughed too. "Well, Jane, I do believe you are capable of planting a garden that grows properly! I have the highest confidence that if you put your mind to it you can achieve anything."

The best thing was, he actually meant it. Jake had a heart of gold. Jane smiled again. "Thank you. Say, aren't you quite the gardener yourself? Maybe you could give me a few pointers!"

"Well, primarily I grow pumpkins. They're easy enough to cultivate, for whatever reason. But I could try! Do you want to, really?"

She tilted her head slightly, considering. "Hm... Perhaps not this year, I think we'll be a little busy, you know?"

"Yes, yes," Jake agreed.

"But next year, when everything's settled," she continued hopefully, "I'd love to learn how to actually garden!"

"Well, I'd love to teach you!" Jake grinned. They walked in a companionable silence through the dim streets, avoiding some roads and being careful where they turned, as usual. The lower quarters could be a dangerous place. That had been how they met, actually—Jake had been Jane's knight in shining armor when she was being jeered at by some street lowlife. Even now, she felt safer just walking with his arm around her, even though they were still at potential risk should a large enough group choose to appear.

Luckily, there was no incident along the way to the apartment block where Jane lived. As per their usual custom, Jane invited Jake inside—no matter who you were, walking the streets alone at night was stupid.

"I can make some tea or hot chocolate or something," she offered, drawing him inside and bolting the door. "And there's a little leftover bread and cheese from the bakery, since you mentioned you hadn't had dinner yet!"

"Goodness, thank you," Jake smiled at her. "I am quite famished. There is enough for the both of us, though, isn't there?"

"Yes, there is plenty!" she cheerfully assured, entering the little kitchen and turning the lights on. "Here is the bread," she announced after retrieving the half-loaf from its container, then turned to the refrigerator and pulled out a quarter of a wedge of cheese and a knife, placing all the items on the countertop between them. "And the cheese. I'm going to make myself some hot chocolate, do you want any?" she asked as she turned to the stove to heat a pan of milk.

"Yes, please Jane," Jake said as he took the knife and cut four slices, two for each of them, and repeated the process for two slices of cheese, then placed the bread back in the box and walked around Jane to place the cheese back into the refrigerator.

A few minutes later saw them sitting at the small wooden table, blowing on steaming mugs of frothy hot chocolate and eating bread and cheese.

"How was your day?" Jake asked her after a heartbeat of quiet.

Jane shrugged, taking a small bite of bread. "Not that great, to be honest, but I mean it could have been a lot worse. I helped out at the little soup kitchen, you know?"

"Yep, I know the one!"

She sighed, slumping a little. "I don't know, it just depresses me to see those people always sad and hungry, worse off than even we are!"

Jake reached across the table to pat her hand. "I know, Jane, believe me, I know."

Jane offered him a small smile. They sat in a companionable silence for the rest of the meal, not really having that much to say and being quite exhausted. Finally Jane got the spare blankets out, and they had the usual you-take-the-bed-no-_you_-take-the-bed argument before deciding that Jake would take the couch and Jane the bed because last time she had managed to convince him to sleep in the bed. Both were asleep almost as soon as their heads touched the pillows.

* * *

_AN: Sorry, I just wanted to get this chapter out there! It could be much better, I know (I need to work on lots of things), but I'm more excited to start the actual plot than all this little fluff. Which don't worry, it'll be getting there soon! _


	3. Chapter 3: Secrets

The next morning dawned bright and early. As expected, Jake left shortly before dawn, leaving a thank-you note on her bedside table. Jane rose with the Sun and spent the morning at her usual job, kitchen manager and chef at a nearby (admittedly somewhat shabby) bakery, and left in the evening like normal, tired and hot and needing a nice bath. Luckily, her apartment was a nice one and had running and heated water, so that was easily taken care of. Just as she had finished heating a bowl of soup for dinner, there was a sharp rap on the door.

On the other side was Dirk, looking brisk and businesslike as usual with a book and several papers and folders, presumably from his university classes, under his arm. Opening the door quickly, she stepped aside to let him in, then closed and bolted the door after he entered. It was a bit of a surprise to see him here; neither he nor Roxy usually crossed district lines, and for that matter neither did she or Jake. They were just very noticeable. Surely there was an important reason for this visit, then.

"Hi, Dirk. Want some soup or anything? I was about to eat."

"No, I'm fine, thanks," he said, sitting on one side of the small sofa in her little living room. "I just came by to go over some stuff for the weekend. You ready?" Ah, that was the reason. It made sense, after all.

Jane let herself tiredly fall onto the sofa next to him, careful not to spill her steaming soup. Holding a spoonful to blow on, she considered. "I think so. I mean, I'll just corroborate your speech with personal experience and all, right?"

"Pretty much," he agreed, pulling a few pages from a folder. "Here—it's a copy of that speech, in case you wanted to look over it."

Jane took a glance at the papers. _For long years, we have lived under a regime of nothing but misery. Constantly watched and always afraid, we stay in our designated roles, doing everything just to please one person who unfairly sits at the top of the social order she herself installed! _And it went on like that for a while, detailing moments in the daily life of the middle or even low class, then looping back to a brief history lesson covering events like the Great Massacre or the long-ago Juggalo Wars. Finally the end was a call to action, to unite, to show that the people of this planet were not so afraid, so stuck in their own fear, that they lost all sense of identity as themselves and to show the Batterwitch that they wanted her gone.

It was their most audacious rally by far. Jane really hoped it would work.

"I think I can mostly help out here, and here," she indicated, sipping her soup. Dirk nodded.

"That's what I was thinking," he agreed. "Do you want to just deliver that part of the speech yourself?"

A flash of surprise crossed her face. "I—shucks! I could, I guess!"

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to," he reassured, giving her the trademark Strider half-smile. "It might just be more compelling if that's your chance to shine rather than conveying it through me."

"Hmm... Okay, I'll do it," Jane nodded, then ate another spoonful of soup.

"Great! All we have to do is work out a few technical details, then!" The enthusiasm radiating from Dirk was palpable, evidenced by the way he leaned forward ever so slightly and the gleam in his eyes, and the determined set of his jaw. When he was passionate about something, it really showed—he just had some sort of magnetic charisma that drew people in to get them to follow him. It was why he was also the primary speech-giver at their rallies and sessions.

"Alright!" Jane laughed, swept along in his enthusiasm as always. "Honestly, I think I don't need to really write out my words... can I just say what comes to mind at the moment?"

"You _are _pretty good at speaking from the heart," Dirk conceded. "But stage fright is a killer. I'd suggest you just make an outline of points you want to cover."

"Right. Well, what points are those? I guess they would be the state of life here, right? And in the poorer sectors. Involving personal experience like what I see at work and after it." Jane trailed off, looking at him questioningly. Those were good talking points, right? They would show what the regime of the Batterwitch did to the people!

Dirk nodded encouragingly. "Good, keep going...?"

"Um... I can talk about ways to make it better, too, because you never present a problem without a solution." Wise words from her father, long ago, when there had been a chance of her opening her own business, before everything fell apart.

"Excellent. It's a good start. I know you're busy, but I think you can manage to have it ready by the rally. Speaking of that, I'd like to meet earlier that morning to finalize the speaking parts and order, if you can."

It would mean less rest for her, but that meant nothing in the face of the cause. "Of course! When and where?"

"When and where is convenient for you?" Dirk asked.

"Hm... what about two hours beforehand, somewhere in the neutral zone between the districts? The park, maybe?"

He nodded. "That should do. Alright, then."

"Do you think it will go well?" Jane asked after a heartbeat of silence, placing her now-empty soup bowl on the floor.

Dirk seemed to consider the question before answering. "I do. Which means we have to be very careful, because if she knows who we are, we're in for it."

"Things are only going to heat up from here, aren't they," she murmured.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Let's hope we're ready."

* * *

"Jake? Jake, please open up," Jane begged under her breath, knocking on the door again, more loudly this time. It was late and pouring heavy rain, so it was completely possible he was asleep or not able to hear her pounding away at the wood, but she didn't want to spend the night alone back in her flat. The wind buffeted her with cold water, making her shiver despite her already drenched clothes and hair.

"Jake, please..." she whispered, slumping against the doorframe and sliding to the wet concrete, shoulders shaking as she tried not to start crying again.

"Is someone there?" his voice called from inside suddenly, muffled by the wooden door.

Jane raised a trembling hand and tapped it again, not trusting her voice to remain steady. Footsteps approached from inside, and she was about to push herself to a standing position when the door was yanked open to reveal Jake, silhouetted by a warm yellow glow from the lamp behind him and wielding a pistol, just to be on the safe side. He immediately dropped it upon seeing her sitting there, instead pulling her inside without a word of question.

Once the door was closed the questions came, however, as Jake half led, half carried Jane to a wooden chair next to the small hearth in which a warm fire burned. "Dear lord, Jane, are you quite alright? Did something happen? –No, of course something did, otherwise you wouldn't be outside my apartment in the middle of a humongous old rainstorm like this. Did someone hurt you? Should I call—"

While speaking, Jake had crossed the room to pull out a woolen blanket and wrap it around her shoulders after peeling off her soaked cloak and jacket, but was then cut off when she flung herself into his arms and started crying in earnest rather than just letting out an occasional choked gasp or strangled sob. Jake blinked in surprise, stumbling back a step, but quickly hugged her, rubbing her back soothingly. "Jane... what's wrong?" he asked confusedly, concern written across his face. "Please tell me."

"I—I will, just give me a moment," she stammered between sobs, then buried her face in his shoulder, clinging to him so tightly it was as if she was trying to hide from the world by making herself small and pressing herself into her friend's arms.

After a few minutes of this, Jane seemed to have cried herself out for the time being, just leaning against Jake still with her head pressed to his shoulder and arms wrapped around his neck. Jake continued holding her, one hand still slowly and repetitively rubbing her back.

Without moving, Jane began to speak. "I... You know I sometimes go to the dark districts to give out food and things?"

Jake nodded, then quickly added, "Yes." He also knew that _and things _ meant using her healing powers to try and help those who were stuck in the dark districts with no means to help themselves. The concern was mounting—had someone there attacked her? Was she hurt?

"There was one family," she continued. "I—oh—if only I had just gotten there sooner, if I hadn't stopped to pick up fruit from the little market, but goodness knows those poor dears need money too, but—but—oh god, Jake, I was too late, that little girl died in my arms and I couldn't do _anything_ for her, I, I should have—" she began to cry again. Jake, finally understanding but quite shocked, just held her tighter, then after a moment scooped her up and sat them both on an armchair, Jane curled in his lap and still wrapped in the blanket.

"Oh dear... Jane," he murmured in shock, at a complete loss as to how to comfort her. Death may have been an unfortunate fact of life here in the lower quarters, but witnessing it firsthand was always devastating, especially to someone as softhearted as Jane was under all her cynicism. Jake was no stranger to terrible wounds, working in a factory as he did; people were hurt by heavy machinery all the time and sometimes even perished. It was the risk you had to take to make the money to survive.

But Jane? Jane worked in a bakery, cooking and decorating desserts. She was more delicate, fragile and gentle to see. He had confided to Dirk and Roxy that he really worried for her sometimes—she lived alone in the lower quarter, how long would it be until something happened? And now something had happened. Jake felt a little guilty for it, but he was desperately happy that the something hadn't happened to Jane herself.

Now, though, he was left to deal with a grieving, shocked girl trembling in his arms. And he had no idea what to tell her, no idea how to console her other than by just holding her and murmuring gentle words—_there, there, it'll be okay, please don't cry, hush now Jane._

"Jane, it wasn't your fault, I promise you!" he finally said after several minutes of merely sitting there.

Jane shook her head. "M—maybe if I had just—"

Almost immediately, Jake put a finger to her lips. "Bollocks! No maybes, what-ifs, could-haves or should-haves, because they don't matter because they didn't happen. It wasn't your fault, alright?"

She sniffled. "I..."

He might not be able to comfort her, but how dare she blame herself? He would not stand for that. "Alright?"

"Okay," she said meekly, dropping her gaze. Jake gave her a little squeeze.

"Is it my turn to make you hot chocolate then?" he asked with a small smile.

Jane considered. "... Yes, please," she said, too weary to bother teasing him about whether he could even make hot chocolate as good as hers like she usually might.

"Okay then, just hold on a tick!" he replied, shifting to stand and then popping off to the kitchen. Jane sniffled again, pulling the blanket more tightly around herself, and bit her lip to try and hold the tears in. A minute or two passed and he returned with two steaming cups, topped sloppily with cream.

Jane looked surprised, momentarily distracted from her tears by her pragmatic concerns. "Cream is so expensive though! Why are you...?"

"Oh, pish-tush, Jane!" Jake chided, placing both on the floor by the armchair, settling back down with her, and picking them up to give her one. "You are quite worth the cream."

She smiled genuinely for the first time that night.

"Thank you, Jake," she murmured, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

Jake smiled at her again. "Any time," he replied. "Shall we call it a night after the hot chocolate, or do you want to talk?"

Jane shrugged. "Tomorrow is the big day... I guess we should get rest—hey, aren't you going to work early tomorrow to get out in time?"

Jake nodded.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you like this!" she started. Jake shook his head.

"Jane, really! You're much more important than an hour of sleep. You're worth whipped cream, after all! But if it makes you feel better, we can hit the sack soon."

"Yes, let's do that," she agreed, blushing sheepishly before taking a ginger sip of her hot chocolate.

"You can have the bed," he started.

Jane laughed softly, shaking her head. "I notice you don't have a long couch! Where will you sleep, the floor?"

"Well, yes, that was the general idea—"

"Well, I'm not going to waltz into your house and make you sleep on the floor," she contended, argumentative words at odds with the way she leaned into his warmth, seeming to take comfort in their bedtime argument ritual.

"Well, you're certainly not waltzing into my house only to sleep on the floor," he replied with mock indignance, just happy that she seemed closer to being herself again.

"It would appear then, that as usual we are at an impasse," she declared. "And since I'm the one who waltzed into the house, I get to decide where I sleep, and that's not the bed!"

"It's my house though, my word should trump!" Jake objected. "You get the bed."

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Not taking the bed!"

"Well then I suppose we're both sleeping on the floor!"

Jane opened her mouth to retort, then paused and blinked. "Jake... why don't we just share the bed?"

Jake stopped. "That... why _didn't _we think of that sooner?" Normally, he might have made some joking comment of _oh, my, how scandalous, Jane!_ But the thought of that was as far from his mind as it could be. This was completely friendship and comfort for Jane.

"That way," she added more quietly, "you can still hold me like this, right?"

"Of course," he agreed without hesitation, giving her another little squeeze in reassurance. "How early are you getting up, anyway?"

"Oh... The hour after dawn, I think. I'm sleeping in a little, if that's okay, but I have to meet Dirk in the morning."

"Ah. Well, I have to leave at half before dawn, so I'll probably get up the hour before. I'll be certain to leave you breakfast, if you like!"

"Oh, you don't have to, I can make it myself," she assured him.

"I see, you just don't like my cooking," Jake joked.

"No, it's not that, silly!" she said with a weak laugh. "I just don't want you to have to do extra work for my sake."

"Well, I _do _make breakfast anyway," he pointed out. "I'll just leave you some."

"Oh, okay. Well, while I'm taking advantage of you, can I borrow some drier clothes for the night?" Jane asked, looking at her formerly favorite blue sundress, now damp and still cold.

"Of course! Sorry, I didn't even think of that," Jake apologized. "They will be big, obviously, but..."

Jane giggled. "I just need something dry to sleep in, Jake," she said.

"Right, right." Jake stood, running a hand through his unruly hair and messing it even further, and then walked into the bedroom alcove. He emerged with a plain beige shirt and dark pants and handed them to Jane, who accepted them with a quiet "Thanks".

A few minutes later she had changed in the bedroom and placed her dress on the chair in front of the hearth where Jake had originally instructed her to sit and dry off. Jake's clothes were comically large on her; she had taken one look at her reflection in the small window and actually laughed before tugging the shirt sleeves back enough that her hands could emerge to hold her hot chocolate.

"It's much easier to enjoy hot chocolate when you're warm and dry," she commented, resting her head against Jake's shoulder as she sat half in his lap on the armchair.

"I would think so, yes," he agreed, looping an arm around her loosely.

The rain was still falling hard against the windowpane and filled the lull in their conversation with a cool backdrop of sound. Finally Jane straightened. "We should go to sleep," she said. "Especially you. What time is it, anyway?"

"Three hours until dawn, I believe," Jake replied, stifling a yawn. "Let's do that, I'm quite knackered."

"Sorry," she murmured sheepishly, looking at her empty mug. "I just didn't know where else to go—"

"Jane, goodness, how many times do I have to tell you I am quite glad you came to me?"

She smiled wanly. "Right, sorry."

"You don't need to apologise for that either!"

At that she gave a genuine chuckle. "_Sorry._"

"You are incorrigible," Jake told her.

Jane smiled sweetly. "I know."

* * *

_AN: Well, there you have it, Jane's secret is out! Eh, sorry about both the wait and the crappiness of this chapter. I just had the best five days of my life at a competition, but it was super busy! Okay, let me know what you think? :)_


	4. Chapter 4: Here We Go

The next day was deceptively beautiful, the blue sky dotted with a few fluffy white clouds, while the soft breeze carried traces of birdsong in the park. Jane wore the same simple blue cotton sundress, slightly wrinkled from being draped over a chair in front of Jake's hearth overnight, complete with the old hat and purse at her hip. She sat in a gazebo amid a few trees, hands clasped in her lap and ankles crossed, waiting for Dirk. A few nervous butterflies fluttered in her stomach, but she suppressed them—this was a big day for them! She should be excited, not worried. And she definitely would suppress thoughts of yesterday.

Soon enough, exactly on the hour, he appeared, sporting wind-tossed hair and casual yet impeccable clothes as usual. In one of his hands was the folder containing their notes for the rally.

"Good morning, Dirk," Jane greeted with a soft smile.

"'Morning," he replied, seating himself next to her and opening the folder. "It's good to see you indeed did show up. How are you?"

"A little nervous, frankly," she admitted, frowning at the cryptic first statement but then disregarding it. "But also excited!"

"Understandable," he nodded. "Honestly, I am too, but there's nothing to worry about. I've got it all under control."

"I know, I know," Jane laughed. "I trust you."

Dirk smiled. "Good to know. Now, let's get this show on the road, hm?"

"Mmhmm! Okay, here's what I have prepared, more or less..." Jane took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then opened them to meet Dirk's gaze unwaveringly, almost as if she were looking through him rather than at him in concentration, before launching into her speech, quashing whatever feelings of nervousness fluttered through her and launching into her admittedly slightly awkward introduction. "Hello, my fellow citizens! I am one of you, from the so-called 'lower' or 'lesser' district. I have walked all my life in the same shoes as many of you, and today I come to share what this life has shown me about the way our world works.

"When I was young, I never understood why I couldn't have the nice things that people on the other side of the city did. I never understood what made them all intrinsically 'better', worth more than us. And you know what? I still don't! Well, I understand the reason we're separated, and that is only because our glorious empress has decided that we are. You and I, and my companion here, and even those who chose not to attend this event—we are all one and the same, we are all one people. The same blood runs through all of our veins! And yet we are divided by someone not even from our planet. Why do we let this happen?"

She stopped, taking a moment to organize her thoughts, then continued. "In the past, our planet was a haven of justice and happiness. We lived in peace. That all changed when the Empire came through. But somewhere, under it all, we still have that same potential, that same love of each other, I know we do! Even though for those of us who live in the lower districts, who slave and toil endlessly just to bring enough home to keep ourselves and our families fed, who cannot ever find happiness if what makes them happy lies outside of their caste, who live in fear of all the rest of the world, life is hard, yes, but it should only serve as a reminder of what we could have had.

"And I do not mean this in bitterness or regret! I speak of hope. Because in my heart," her fingers fluttered to brush her heart, then flitted across to lightly tap Dirk's chest, "and in yours, lives a spark of hope. It's always been there, and always will be, no matter what, because no one—and I mean no one!—can ever take that away from us. We are one, we are united, and we will be free to be ourselves. I promise! If we can all just work together, if we can find that common blood, we can take back our home.

"But those of you of other castes might be wondering why it benefits you to help us, the downtrodden and weary. You do have lofty, easier lives here... and as I said, I am not part of those. But I could have been. And you could have been me. I implore you to realize, our world is unfairly stacked, so that a few may reside in luxury while hundreds starve." She faltered, not sure where to go with this. But then... a daring idea struck her on impulse. Could she perhaps do exactly what Dirk had suggested and bring in some of her own personal experiences?

"Yesterday, I—" Here, it became clear that this speech was indeed from the heart, and also was being spoken on the spot. Jane's breath hitched, and she dropped her gaze to blink back sudden tears for a moment. Gosh darn it, she had been doing well!

Dirk straightened in surprise and made as if to say something, concern knitting his brows together, but Jane waved him off and straightened. "I... sorry. Yesterday, a child died in my arms because her family was unable to feed her or afford medicine for her illness. We found them too late. They were frightened of retribution—they were frightened to seek the means to help an innocent child live. Is this really the kind of world you want to live in?

"Because I'm not saying the world I want makes everyone miserable. I want a world in which everyone has equal opportunity, in which people are safe and don't have to fear for their lives over every little thing, in which people can follow their dreams! This is the world I need you to help me build."

She stopped speaking, then bit her lip. "So... was that any good?" It definitely could use work, because professional speakers didn't just break down on stage, really... Maybe she should have just stayed in a supplementary role at this enormous event. Maybe—

"It was excellent!" Dirk interrupted her train of thought with a genuine smile. Then it faded, replaced by the same concern from a few minutes prior. "But... are you okay, Jane? You didn't tell me about that, yesterday..."

"I—" Were there even words to describe that situation? Jane didn't think so, but the world was blurring and gosh darnit, was she really about to start crying over it again, right now and right here? She would have thought that she didn't have any tears left by this point!

After a second of looking somewhere between frantic and unsure, Dirk pulled her into a warm embrace. "Hey, Jane, it's okay—no, it's not okay, but it happened, and I'm sorry it did, but we're here for you, okay?"

She stayed like that for a moment, just clinging to him and trying to hold in the tears, then with a shaky breath pulled away, offering a watery smile. "I'm okay, yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she said, blinking to clear any of those remaining tears. "I'm okay."

"What... what happened?" Dirk seemed almost hesitant to ask, a remarkably rare thing for him. Usually he was the dictionary definition of confidence.

"I was in the dark districts," she began, completely forgetting that Dirk and Roxy knew little of her exploits. Jake knew and didn't quite approve, but he knew he couldn't change her mind about it and just extracted promises to be careful, especially when he couldn't accompany her.

Dirk sucked in his breath sharply. "What were you doing there?"

"I ... shucks, I totally forgot I never even mentioned this to you or Roxy," she laughed with embarrassment, feeling her cheeks turning pink. "I go down there sometimes, on my off days. Just to walk around and help out wherever I can, you know?"

He was frowning. "And by 'help out' you mean...?"

"I, well, I buy things from the people there if I can afford it because I know they need money more than I do, and I give them food when I can, and sometimes..." she trailed off, twisting her already wrinkled skirt in her hands.

"Sometimes?" he prodded, the furrow between his brows growing.

"I help the wounded and sick." Jane's voice was barely above a whisper and she wouldn't meet Dirk's gaze.

"Jane," he said quietly. "I know it's important to you, but... don't you realize how dangerous that is? You using your powers so openly?"

"What am I supposed to do?" she shot back, crossing her arms defensively. "Let them die?"

"If they have to to keep you from being taken, yeah," he replied, just as cool as she had been heated.

"How—no! I won't do that."

He sighed. "I can't tell you what to do. I'm only trying to look out for you. Just be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry," Jane said wryly. "Jake already made me promise him that about fifty times."

Dirk rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay. Don't do anything stupid, Crocker," he half-jokingly warned. "But sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I... continue?"

"Well," she said after a momentary pause, "there's not that much more to say. I... I was doing that, and I happened upon these people, this family sitting in an alley under a makeshift canopy of old papers and boards. There was a little girl who had been very sick for a while, and they couldn't even afford food to feed her either, and I came too late, I guess, because even though I tried she was just a little too far gone, and..." she swallowed hard, biting her lip. "I ... I couldn't save her, Dirk. It was awful, I couldn't stay there..."

"So, is this whole thing why I couldn't find you when I went to your place yesterday to see if you were aware of all the plans for today that I discussed with Roxy and Jake about their roles?" His voice contained a measure of casual sharpness, and he was watching her closely.

Jane straightened in surprise. "You did? When? I'm sorry, I guess I was out. It happened around mid-afternoon, which was when I ran away from—from her," she said.

"I came by in the late evening," Dirk frowned. "Were you still in the dark districts wandering around?"

"Oh... I—I guess so, I did wander for a while, I just had to get away from it all. I mean, I didn't go home last night—"

"What?!" Well, that was an accomplishment, the part of Jane's mind that enjoyed dry humor noted. She'd gotten Strider to exclaim in surprise or possibly horror. But immediately she felt bad because he was undoubtedly worried, and over nothing, too!

"Relax, Dirk!" she said quickly. "I didn't spend the night on the streets or anything. I went to Jake's flat."

"Oh," he said, apparent relief tinting his voice. "That's good to hear, at least."

"I feel a bit bad about that, honestly, he had to go to work early this morning because of our plans for the afternoon and I woke him up in the middle of the night."

"It's better than you staying on the streets."

"That's what Jake said, too," she laughed ruefully. "But what was it you needed to talk to me about yesterday?"

"Just finalizing some plans and things. I figured even if we were meeting up you may as well know beforehand because we were going to devote this hour to speechmaking."

"Oops."

"Nah, doesn't matter, your speech was good." Dirk shrugged.

"You think so?" Jane perked up. Dirk didn't usually had out praise lightly, especially if it wasn't true.

"Yeah." He gave her a small smile again, just a quick quirk of his lips, but it was completely genuine.

Jane smiled brightly in response, pushing her darker emotions away with effort. "Oh, goody then!"

"Are you ready?" Dirk asked, watching her carefully. The underlying question was, _are you sure you're okay?_

"Yeah. Let's do this." It had only hardened her resolve. For that poor little girl, a bright candle snuffed out before even having a chance to shine, she would change the world.

* * *

"I didn't expect the crowd to be this... big," Jane whispered to Dirk in awe as they stood in the wings, hidden from the stage. In front of them both sprawled a massive horde of people, several hundreds at least. A dull roar, wall of sound, permeated the air; almost instinctively Jane stepped backwards, behind her companion. Avoiding attention was better than not, in most cases, yet here she was going to stand out on stage!

Dirk shifted, turning to lightly catch her by the elbow. "It is impressive turnout, definitely." He studied her for a moment, his body language telling her he was concerned. "Are you—"

"Yes, I'm sure, Dirk," Jane assured him quickly. She was nervous, but this was what she was here to do! Plus it wasn't like she would be out there alone. "I'll be okay." She flashed him a smile, patting his shoulder. "Besides, it's a little late to back out, don't you think?"

That elicited a small grin. "Just a little. Don't worry about it, though. I have this entire situation under control."

Before Jane could reply, a small green cube sailed through the air and smacked Dirk's arm. He whipped around, one hand automatically grasping the hilt of the sword strapped to his hip as the other shoved a startled Jane behind him, but relaxed his defensive posture when he saw Roxy waving from a few yards away. She was at the edge of the stage wings, on the other side of the little barricade they had put up as makeshift protection if things went badly, to buy time to escape.

"It's time!" she called in a low voice, just loud enough to be heard over the crowd's muddle of voices. "Good luck, you too! Get out there!"

Dirk nodded, stiffening and taking a quick breath. Jane now studied him; no matter how many times they joked about him being a robot, Dirk was human too. She had only realized recently how much he stretched himself thin keeping them safe and happy—Lil Seb, the cute bunny-shaped robot he had built to keep her apartment safe, especially when he wasn't home—had been what he called easy, but was quite the undertaking if Roxy's story about him actually falling asleep during class one time was true.

He cared deeply about all of them; he just didn't always show it on the surface, but his actions spoke much louder than his occasionally harsh words. He did things that sometimes were downright outrageous, but never put them in danger—half the time those outrageous things were things they probably should have done themselves, and the other half of the time they were still for the benefit of the unfortunate recipient of Dirk's lessons. Roxy had said once that she speculated it was because deep, deep down, he was afraid that something might happen to one of them and wanted to make sure they were as ready and capable as they could be if he wasn't there to protect them.

All these thoughts ran through Jane's head as she examined him. There was a trace of nervousness visible in the tightness of his jaw or the stiff set of his shoulders, but if one didn't know him well, they could easily have been forgiven for overlooking those. Now, it was her turn to place a comforting hand on his arm.

"I'm not worried. I know you've got this under control. Ready to rock?"

He looked startled for a second, then palpably relieved. "Yeah. Come on, Crocker." One deft hand flipped his hood up, and then he slid on a pair of pointed shades. It was an interesting look, but it did fit him, Jane thought. She just wore a mask borrowed from Roxy—they had taken one look at the silly toy disguises her father had bought her when she was young, before the early end of her childhood, and said no, Jane, those wouldn't work—and pulled her own hood up, glasses secured in her pocket.

Behind them, Roxy gave a thumbs-up and blew them a kiss before vanishing, presumably to find Jake again. Jane slipped her hand into Dirk's, feeling adrenaline coursing through her body even as a nest of butterflies frantically fluttered through her stomach. He lightly squeezed her fingers, as if he knew exactly what she was feeling.

With a final deep breath, both of them took a step beyond the wings onto the stage, and turned to face the eager crowd.

* * *

_AN: Shoutout to YuukiSynical for being the first reviewer! This chapter's dedicated to you, dear! _

_Again, what do you think? Also, I'm not sure which ships to include... hmm. Or even whether to include any! Romance will not be the main objective of this story but there is a potential for it happening. Thoughts?_


	5. Chapter 5: A Rally

Roxy Lalonde was watching the proceedings smugly, her arms crossed and a satisfied smirk playing about her lips. Everything was going according to the plans Dirk had drawn up; the only problem at all was when people in the back of the immense crowd couldn't hear the rallying speech.

But...

A slight frown settled on her brow, and her posture shifted to a more defensive one. It was going _too _well. Something should have gone wrong by now, there were too many people and there was no way this was still under the radar. Holding it in a market square in the Lower Quarter was a good way to get people to be able to come, but had a strategic drawback; there were too many twisting passages and ways to enter. Those did double as exit points, but it was not the easiest place to defend.

Her eyes darted back to the stage, away from the sea of heads and the buildings surrounding them. Dirk was stepping back and bringing forward Jane, little Jane who was probably trembling in her shoes, but opened her mouth and let her voice ring out clear and strong, if a little higher than usual.

A burst of pride emanated in her heart then. Jane was her dear friend and something of a worry to her, in the best of ways; Roxy had quickly taken the girl under her wing. Out of them all, she had known Jane almost the longest, meeting her about six months after Jake had, and she definitely knew that Jane was just as good for her as she was good for Jane. It had been difficult to admit, but she had had an alcohol problem, which had gone unacknowledged and ignored until Jane gently helped her out of it. She still drank, but in a much more controlled fashion.

And she had helped Jane come out of her shell enough to apply for a better employment situation than the dingy café she had worked at; now at least Jane worked at a bakery that let her leave at a reasonable hour, and at least she could do something she loved. Under her timid, gentle exterior Jane had a ridiculous sense of humor and while she was a cynic, she also had an innately hopeful quality that Roxy really saw shining now on that stage. In her own way, different from Dirk's powerful charisma and strong enthusiasm, she enthralled the crowd. Roxy felt her heart soar for her friend.

Surely her worries were unfounded, right?

Nonetheless, she dodged and slipped and wove her way through the crowd to lightly nudge Jake's arm. He jumped, surprised, and stopped surveying the buildings to look at her questioningly. "Say, Roxy, aren't you supposed to be at the other corner?"

"Do you think there's something suspicious about all this?" Roxy asked in a low voice, barely audible over the sudden cheers for something Jane had said.

"Suspicious?" Jake asked, taken aback. "No, not at all! It seems to be going along spankingly!"

"That's what worries me," she replied with the frown from minutes ago creasing her brows again. "You'd think _her _ troops would've noticed us by now, yeah?"

"Maybe the revolution's already working, then! She knows she can't win, not against all of us!" Jake beamed.

"Jake..." _Are you for real?_ She wanted to groan. "I guess you've never seen the military doing its exercises in the morning, have you?"

As expected, he shook his head, even though she didn't pause to wait for him to.

"Because... It's super huge! Like, really, really really big!" she accompanied these terrible words with an emphatic hand gesture. "She could easily..." A quick survey of the assembled masses of people confirmed her intuitive guess; the feeling of something being _wrong _grew more intense. "She could easily crush us like insects on the pavement."

Jake looked dismayed. "But... but she isn't. She hasn't!"

"_Yet_," Roxy amended, wagging her finger at him. "I feel like something's going to happen. Keep an eye on my corner, will you? I'm going to get closer to the stage so I can get their attention more easily if it does, or at least see if anyone's up there being all... suspicion-inducing."

"Of course. Do you really think it'll end badly?" Jake asked, concern appearing on his earnest face. "All these people..."

Here was a conversation she had been hoping to avoid. "Jake, dearie. We're trying to basically start a war here. People are going to die." Maybe... maybe dropping a bombshell would just be easier than easing him into the idea that there would be deaths squarely on their shoulders.

...

Oh shit, no, that was not a good idea, judging by the sudden pasty appearance of his face.

"But... oh goodness... maybe we shouldn't—"

"It's a little late to back out now!" she said airily, waving her hands as if to dispel the mental image he probably had conjured. "Plus people are dying anyway, at least they can die for a good cause."

"But—do you really think there might be people dying _today_?" To his credit, he didn't stumble over the word _dying_. Oh wait... that was because he worked in the factories. Never mind.

Roxy hesitated. "I don't know," she hedged. "I hope not." That wasn't a lie, but technically she hadn't answered his question—because the answer was yes, she did think there was a definite possibility.

"Me too."

They lapsed into a short, uneasy silence, both having fallen out of the excited fervor suffusing the throng and instead casting wary glances all around.

Suddenly Roxy grasped Jake's arm, jerking her head at one of the side streets with a sense of urgency. "Jake! There! Do you see him or is that just me—"

"_Shit!_"

Yeah, Jake saw him too. Him being one of the soldiers of the Condense!

"I'll go get them. Meet back at the place!" she called, fear underlying her voice. She couldn't let anything happen to Dirk or Jane!

Not bothering to subtly glide through the crowd anymore, Roxy shoved and elbowed her way towards the stage.

"Mask! Shades!" she screamed as she neared, hoping they could hear her over the mob. It didn't work; Dirk was shouting passionately and Jane was watching him with a bright smile, caught up in her own enthusiasm.

A few seconds later there was another little green cube in her hand. A pebble would have been less indicative of a conjurer, but dammit she couldn't concentrate in this ruckus!

It bounced harmlessly off the edge of the stage. She cursed under her breath and with a few more "Ex_cuse_ me"s accompanied by sharp elbows, found herself closer to them.

"Shades! Mask!"

Plonk went another cube, near Jane's feet this time. Once more should do it...

It smacked Jane's hand. Startled, she snatched her hand to her chest, looking at the crowd. Roxy waved with huge gestures, jumping to try to get attention.

"_Mask! Shades!_" she yelled again, fighting to be heard. "Game's up, let's go!"

Jane's eyes widened. Roxy pointed wordlessly back in Jake's direction. "Troops coming!"

"Di—_hey!_" Jane caught herself barely in time. "We have to go!"

Dirk glanced to Roxy, tearing his gaze from the people in front of him. "We'll meet again here! Next week, same time! Tell your friends, and get out now!" he cried, then grabbed Jane's hand and with her ran back behind the curtain. In the starting-to-panic crowd, Roxy swore and fought her way against the tide of people to find them.

Behind the curtain, both had climbed over the barricade and were rapidly removing their disguises and stowing them in nondescript bags, slung over each of their shoulders.

"Act normal," Dirk instructed briskly as he rolled his cloak and shoved it into his shoulderbag.

"Everyone's panicking," Jane replied wryly before giving in to nervousness again. "Are we going back to headquarters?"

"Yeah, we should. But not for long, we need to pretend we were either in the crowd or not here at all." He held out his hand again, waiting for her to take it. She grasped it firmly, knowing that it would be hard to stay together in a stampede like what they would find outside.

Dirk peeked out from behind the curtain, then nodded back at her. "We should be clear to go. It's a good thing she warned us before we had to use that barricade... Okay, let's go."

Together they slipped into the fray. Near the outer edges of the crowd, where Roxy and Jake had been quietly patrolling, troops were visible. Not that many of them were there—it was more of a display of a small force than an actual crackdown—but it was effective; people were screaming, and there was a stench of dread and fear hanging in the air.

Chaos surrounded them both as they tried to jostle through the crowd—or rather, Dirk shoved his way through and Jane tried to keep close.

"Do you see Roxy?" she cried to him at one point, gripping his hand so tightly with her sweaty hand she wasn't sure it was physically possible to let go without having to pry her fingers off with a crowbar.

"No!" he called back, sounding frustrated. "Wait, is that Jake—"

He lunged forward, but Jane stumbled over someone's feet, and just like that as soon as someone else fell heavily against their outstretched arms her fingers slipped, and she lost him. "Hey—" she gasped, trying to regain her sense of direction. "Dirk?"

She was surrounded by strangers, all pushing and shoving this way and that, and her ears were full of cries of fear and panic. Nowhere could she spot Dirk's fair head between the unknown faces. Frantically, Jane turned this way and that, clasping her own hands at her chest unconsciously as if it was some kind of defensive gesture. "Dirk!" she called, craning her neck this way and that.

It was then that Jane realized she had made a crucial mistake for one in a crowd like this: she was standing still. Cursing her diminutive stature, she tried to look around for which direction to start off in! But which way did Dirk go—

She had no time to ponder this, desperately stretching onto the tips of her toes, when a small group of people, clasping each other for dear life, barreled past her to reach a side street behind a nearby group of stalls. They all but mowed her down and she was flailing her arms to try not to lose her balance and fall, but the next thing she knew, her knees were on the pavement and so was her head and there were feet and heavy shoes and she couldn't get up without falling again, so she covered her head and screamed, "_Dirk!_"

Suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. She nearly fell again because the owner of the hand continued moving with the flow of the people around her, but they didn't let her fall.

"Roxy?"

"Sheesh, Janey," Roxy shook her head, glancing at Jane for a fleeting moment with a twinkle in her eyes but a measure of seriousness and concentration on her face as well before craning her neck to peer over the heads of those nearby. "Haven't I told you not to let people walk all over you?"

Of all the things to do or say while trying to escape a political rally gone wrong, making puns about nearly being crushed to death by a horde of people was not one Jane would have put at the top of the list. It was so ridiculous that she found herself laughing. Roxy smiled at that, pulling her close enough to wrap an arm around her waist before weaving through the crowd, at all times keeping a tight grasp on Jane, who hurriedly scrambled to keep up with Roxy's longer strides and quick movements.

"I'm going to _smack _Strider, really," she muttered, half to herself. "Dropping Janey is sacrilegious!"

"What?" asked Jane, unable to hear anything other than her name.

"Nothing. Tell you later!" she called back, breathing a sigh of relief. She could see the edge of the throng!

A few moments later they had reached that edge. Breathing sighs of relief—now that they were out of the tightly packed crowd enough to do so-they ducked into a different side street; Jane led Roxy through several back alleyways, each more deserted and frankly creepy than the last, until they reached a small, decrepit, and empty park.

"Are you okay, Janey?" There was concern in Roxy's eyes, and her hands clasped Jane's earnestly.

"A few bruises, probably," Jane admitted with a shrug, blinking. "Nothing big, I'll be fine."

"I'm going to smack Strider," Roxy repeated more audibly. "Just so you know."

"What? Why?" Jane blinked in surprise.

"Because he dropped you. I told him to keep an eye on you! Not like, a literal eye, because that would totally be weird, but to just watch out for you." Roxy was grinning, which told Jane she was joking, but she really was only joking about the smacking Dirk part. She really had asked him to watch out for Jane.

Not that Jane needed to know that or anything.

Now she was laughing, and Roxy smiled happily. "So, how was giving a speech with Dirk?"

"Terrifying!" Jane laughed, almost giddy now that the whole ordeal was over. "I bet I'll do it next time, too!"

"Terrifying," Roxy repeated. "And you're already looking forward to next time. Janey I don't think you know what terrifying means."

"I do, I do! It was terrifying, but... exhilarating, too, you know what I mean?"

"Sort of, sure," Roxy shrugged.

Jane smiled up at her, then began digging in her bag. After a second, she frowned. "Oh, shucks. My glasses are... they must have been stepped on! They fell out of my bag, I guess."

"Don't worry, Janey! I promise I won't let you walk into any poles," Roxy vowed with a cheerful salute and wink.

Jane gave her a skeptical look. "Thank you, Roxy, I definitely can't tell where any poles are. Wait, are you even Roxy? Or is this Jake in disguise?"

"That's right, you figured me out," Roxy deadpanned in reply. "It is I, the ridiculously handsome and totally dorky Jake English, here to save the day!" She struck a dramatic pose. Jane burst into laughter.

"Do you think we should head back?" she asked after a few seconds of silence had passed.

"Probably," Roxy agreed, for the first time looking around. "By the way, where are we?"

"Just a little old park," Jane answered softly. She looked around, a wistful, nostalgic expression crossing her face. "I used to come here with my dad."

Without a word, Roxy immediately wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close for a side-hug-snuggle-embrace-type-thing. Jane sighed, leaning into her for a moment, then straightened. "Let's go?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Hand in hand, they set off down the streets.

* * *

_AN: And there we have it, the first rally! First of many to come. Hats off to LordPeanut, the 2nd reviewer for this story! I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far! And yes, the alpha babies need more fics, especially Jane in my mind. There's not a lot of her in this archive, so I set out to fix that! There will be betas eventually, but the focus for now is not on them. :)_

_As for things that can so easily go wrong, well... heh heh heh. _


	6. Chapter 6: Promise

Jake and Dirk both were already there, anxiously awaiting their arrival. Jake immediately pounced upon them for a tight hug.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" he exclaimed. "We were so worried!"

Jane laughed as he pulled away, quickly giving him a squeeze before he completely withdrew. "I was worried about you, too. I'm glad you're okay!"

Roxy, meanwhile, marched to the sofa where Dirk was. He smiled up at her.

"Hey, Lalonde. Nice to see you made it out in one piece—what are you doing?"

Roxy had grabbed an overstuffed pillow and was now holding it over her head. Without any warning she brought it down and smacked Dirk with it, complete with a satisfying _fwump_.

"Oof! What the hell, Roxy?"

"That was for dropping Janey," she explained, and almost immediately felt bad because of the look of guilt and panic that flashed in his eyes, then tossed the pillow to the ground and latched onto him for a hug. "And this is for not being dead! Nice to see you too."

"I didn't drop Jane! I lost her in the crowd, though. Is that what you mean?" Dirk was attempting to look as nobly affronted as was possible when one had their hair completely mussed and was being squished by his friend.

"Well, when I found her she was on the ground trying not to get trampled."

Dirk looked alarmed. "She fell? I heard her call my name but I couldn't see her... I figured she was just looking for me. But I couldn't find her, so I guessed she would just meet me back here."

"She fell," Roxy affirmed. "I'm just glad I saw her, because..." she trailed off, suppressing a shudder at both the thought of losing Jane, and of dying by being trampled by a panicked crowd. Dirk sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair.

"You _know _I've been telling her not to let people walk all over her." Roxy attempted to lighten their mood by trotting out her brilliant pun again, to a different audience, and grinned proudly. It _was _a very good pun.

Dirk didn't laugh. Instead, he frowned. "Is she okay?" he asked carefully, looking over at Jane, who was laughing about something or other with Jake. As if sensing his gaze, both of them looked over to him and Roxy.

"She said she has a few bru—" Roxy started, not realizing that the two others had swiveled to tune into their little discussion, dropping the "But Jane! We are supposed to be spectacles buddies, whatever happened to yours?!" from a few moments past.

Jane immediately realized what the conversation was about. "I'm fine, Dirk!" she said over Roxy. "Nothing wrong with me! You know, I didn't think Rox would actually smack you, even with a pillow..."

"You should know, Janey! I always follow through with my threats."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Jane laughed. There was still a sense of giddy victory coursing through her, flight from the scene notwithstanding.

"We should split up soon," Dirk said. "The only real reason we're meeting up right now is to make sure everyone's okay and to drop off gear. Anything else we need to do?"

"No, I don't believe so," Jake shrugged, shifting on his feet. He seemed unsure whether to bother to sit down, but finally made up his mind and plopped onto the couch across from Dirk and Roxy. Jane sat on his other side, where she made a sound of disapproval.

"Jake! You didn't mention you got hurt!" she tutted.

"It's nothing!" he protested, looking at his arm. A red mark indeed was there, though it had stopped bleeding, from shoving a young woman out of the way of one of the guards' javelins. It had only grazed him, really!

Jane was, however, having none of it. "Now you hold still, mister," she instructed. A second later, a gentle, blue, misty glow surrounded her hands as she closed her eyes in concentration. Opening them again, she lightly skimmed her fingers over the wound; as she did, it began to close under her cool touch. Jake watched with something akin to awe—it wasn't the first time she had performed her little healing spells on him, but every time he was still transfixed. Really he did not at all understand how she could ever think her magic was useless or not powerful in its own way.

She pulled away after a scant few seconds, letting out a breath and allowing the magic to subside. The glow drained away, dissipating into the air around her, and she looked up to find all three of her friends watching her with varying degrees of fond smiles on their faces.

"Thanks a ton, Jane!" Jake beamed, giving her a side-hug with his newly-healed arm.

Jane laughed. "No problem, you silly boy! Now, neither of you is hurt, right?" she narrowed her eyes at Dirk and Roxy, though the effect was somewhat ruined by her squinting from the lack of glasses.

"Nope! I'm perfectly fine, Jane!" Roxy shot a wide grin across the coffee table directly at Jane, who laughed.

"Me too," Dirk assured smoothly. "Oh... uh, sorry for losing you earlier."

"Roxy!" Jane scolded. "No need to make him feel guilty. Really, Dirk, it's fine. Nothing happened, we're all here in one piece!"

"That's the spirit!" Jake chimed in. "So what are we doing for next week?"

"Pretty much the same, unless you wanted to swap out or something?" Dirk shrugged. "Jane and I can work something out for the speeches, but I don't think you guys have to worry about anything considering you'll not be on stage."

"Do we have to change up the speech a lot?" Jane asked, frowning slightly. "In only a week?"

"No, no, not a lot. We can talk about that tomorrow, if you have time? Or whenever. We're all tired right now, though, so I think it's a good time to leave, before any neighbors or whoever the hell looks at our houses notices we're not home."

"Right, good plan." Jake stood and offered a hand to Jane, who hauled herself to her feet. Dirk and Roxy both rose, the former first having to somewhat disentangle himself from the latter.

"Well, good job, everyone!" Roxy cheered. "We got a ridiculous amount of people to show up and we all made it out when things went pear-shaped! I count this day a success!"

Jane gave her a high five. "Go us, we're pretty awesome, aren't we?"

"Hell yeah we are," Dirk grinned.

"We are simply the best there is!" Jake proclaimed, beaming. He happily wrapped an arm around Jane and Roxy, who pulled Dirk into this imprompto group hug.

When the quartet separated, all smiling and flushed with excitement despite their fatigue, they just stood quietly for a second, drinking in the presence of the others. Jane intertwined her fingers with Jake's and Dirk's, who stood on either side of her, and beamed.

They stood in silence for a few heartbeats longer, then finally all pulled apart with a hint of reluctance.

"So... see you guys later, I guess," Jane looked over to the two Upper Quarter residents.

"Yeah, sometime soon! We'll be in touch, and don't stress yourself about those speeches or anything. You did good, by the way," Dirk replied.

Roxy darted over to give Jane a quick hug. "Stay safe, Janey—hey," she paused. "Now that the rally's over, what was the mysterious something you didn't tell me earlier?"

Jane felt her stomach drop. She had completely forgotten about that, and now the grief was starting to return as well as now anxiety about telling Roxy. "Um... sometimes I go to the dark districts and heal people?"

"_What?_" Roxy squawked.

"She won't be going there for some time," Dirk said pointedly. "Right, Jane?"

"Dirk," Jane frowned, crossing her arms. "I told you, if I can help them—"

"Well, considering how well that went last time, I really think you should give it a rest for some time!"

"_What _happened last time?" Roxy cried in consternation.

Jake looked helplessly back and forth at the three of them, looking like they were about to descend into squabbling. "Guys, is there really not a better time for this?"

"What happened last time?" Roxy demanded again, hands on her hips.

Meanwhile Dirk and Jane were arguing.

"Yeah, that only happened because I didn't get there early enough! It wouldn't have happened if I'd been sooner!"

"That doesn't change the fact that it is liable to happen again and you'll be wandering the streets all night again—"

"I was not wandering the streets all night!"

"Okay, until a ridiculously late hour of the night, and who knows what could have happened to you—"

"Well that's why I make sure nothing does happen while I'm there! I'm a healer, at least there's some way I can make myself useful—"

"Jane, I don't see why you take the fact that you could have easily gotten killed out there so lightly—"

"If I got killed, at least I would have been helping people! I'm just a healer after all, I can be a good one who actually makes a difference to someone's life rather than just being an anonymous entity who doesn't do a thing—"

"_What the hell happened last time!?_" Roxy was nearly yelling now to be heard over the other two.

"She became upset because a child died in her arms of a combination of fever, dehydration, starvation, and bad care overall," Jake sighed. It didn't appear that either Dirk or Jane was listening to Roxy, and she did deserve answers. "And she was unable to calm down until around three hours to dawn, when she came to my flat."

"Holy fucking shit," Roxy stared from Jake back to Jane, who was currently looking furious enough that Roxy wouldn't have been surprised if she too decided to smack Dirk with a pillow.

"Dirk Strider, I am astonished that you would even suggest that!" she was saying. "I would have thought better of you, who stood on a platform for an hour today preaching about _helping the people_."

"Look, Jane, my priorities are the people I care about, and then everybody else. You know something? You're _not _just a healer, not anymore. You can't afford to get yourself hurt or killed because you're one of the faces of this movement!"

That stopped her cold, hands falling to her sides again and the furious flush coloring her cheeks fading. "I—"

"You're also not just a healer because you were never just a healer, Janey," Roxy interrupted softly, from where she and Jake had been quietly watching the argument escalate. It was a lot to take in, and she was internally marveling at the bravery of the other girl but felt fear in her heart. The dark districts were dangerous, and the idea of something happening to Jane was... unthinkable. "You're a ridiculously good prankster, an amazing chef with a supreme talent for confections, an adorable dork, and my best friend. Do you never think what could happen to you?"

"I..." Jane looked torn. Her voice was small now, and unsure, quite the opposite of a few moments ago, and her fingers now anxiously were fretting with the fabric of her dress. Worst of all, she sounded like any moment she might begin to cry.

"Janey..." Roxy felt her heart go out to the girl in front of her. She followed it and pulled her into a hug. Dirk was still watching her, a frown on his face, though it was softening and turning more and more uncertain. "Please. It's dangerous, and none of us want anything to happen to you. Please don't go."

"I want to go," came the muffled reply, in the same small, near to tears voice. "I want to help people."

"You _are _helping people!" Roxy argued. "Like you did today."

"I can help them even more," she continued to resist.

"You're going to keep sneaking out no matter what we say, aren't you," Dirk sighed. "I can't stop you, but I really, really don't like it, Jane."

Jake cleared his throat, finally stepping in. "What if... perhaps if at least Jane would come get me to accompany her on her little ventures? She would be less likely to be hurt that way."

"There's still something you're forgetting," Dirk shook his head. "We're starting a revolution. Things are going to get worse before they get better, that's how it works. You realize we are essentially going to _war _ against the Batterwitch. I think she might find it useful to know that there's an untrained but relatively strong mage going around in a place that's easy to ambush and kidnap people from, especially one that specializes in the restorative arts, considering that one less healer for the little rebel party is potentially a major blow, don't you? And who knows what she might actually do if she got her hands on you—"

"_Dirk!_" Roxy sharply interjected. "Stop, that's enough!"

Jane was trembling in her arms, whether from Dirk's words or the effort of keeping tears unshed or some combination of both. Roxy pulled her closer and soothingly rubbed her back.

"Please, Jane? Please don't do it anymore," she murmured pleadingly. "I just want you to be safe and happy. It's too risky, please don't go out there."

Jane was silent, but inside her thoughts were a whirling maelstrom. Helping people was so, so important to her, and ever since her father had disappeared she had been going to the dark districts to do just that—it had been going on for years, since she was twelve! She knew some families personally, by name and trade and whose favorite color was blue and which child dreamed of one day opening her own store so that she didn't have to live in poverty forever and how could she just leave them when they needed her?

It was such a stupid thing to be ruining her day over, too—she had been so happy when she had walked in with Roxy, and now she felt like the world was crashing down around her. No, no—do not cry, do not cry, not now not here not now, don't cry...

"Jane, it's just too dangerous and I'm worried for you. I don't want you going out there, especially now that we've really kicked off the movement, and—I guess I'm trying to say I'm sorry for saying it like that, I really didn't mean to make you cry, damn it—but it's true, you'll be a prime target out there and I don't think we can trust all of those people to keep you a secret," Dirk sighed and ran his hand through his mussed hair.

"Please?" Roxy asked her again.

Jane thought about the people she knew. She thought about the little boy who had begged her to play tag with him and his brother in the stony streets, about the young apothecary woman who had taught her uses of medicinal plants rather than just throwing magic at wounds, about the father of two twin girls who had tried to pay her for healing one of their broken arms while she had stood in the firelit wooden hovel, and about the elderly woman who had befriended her and told her stories as she helped her grandchildrens' illness.

She would be turning her back on them all.

"I—I promise," she said and felt as if a great weight had just fallen from and yet been added to her shoulders. It felt so final, as if a great bell had just signalled it in her mind—this is the end, the end—and suddenly she was weeping, great sobs that threatened to consume her as she slumped against Roxy, face buried in her hands.

"No no no, Janey, don't cry," Roxy cried, squeezing her and then gently pulling Jane's hands away in an effort to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Jake made a soft sound of dismay and sat on the carpet next to them, wrapping an arm around Jane's shoulders.

"Jane, Jane, it's okay," he repeated over and over, like a mantra to soothe her.

Dirk shifted his weight from leg to leg for a moment, tense and unsure of what to do with himself, but then came forward as well, sitting at her other side. One of his hands came to rest atop hers, thumb gently stroking her fingers. "Hey, Jane, I'm sorry. I'm glad you'll be safe, but I'm sorry it hurts you like this."

After a few minutes, the tears subsided. Jane didn't move, though, instead choosing to savor the moment and quietly remain there, held by all three of the people she held most dear in her heart.

"Wow," she said with a watery chuckle after a heartbeat, breaking the silence and destroying the moment of quiet peace. "So much for leaving early, I guess."

Roxy laughed and hugged her closer. "Oh well. At least we got that out of the way."

Dirk started to pull back; Jane caught his hand and held it with a plaintive look on her face. He gave her a surprised but genuine smile and returned to his previous position. "Better?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good."

* * *

Long, fuschia-tinted nails idly tapped the black wood of the armrest. A head bearing a cascade of luscious black hair and a crown leaned on the other hand, fuschia eyes studying the messenger with feigned indolence.

"Your Imperious Condescension," the cowering carapacian was saying, trying to disguise the trembling in his legs as he bowed. "My master sends you the following missive: 'The game is over, do not think I am unaware of your inability to hold a single planet. I will soon take it from you, fear not.'"

She straightened, nails now gouging into the wood next to the marks from previous incidences of her rage as fury coursed through her veins. "He thinks so, does he?"

So, her dear master knew of the petty uprising in her city. What, did the fools think that just by proximity to her throne they would be more effective than the same assembly in a peasant village five thousand miles from here? She was merely being a _benevolent _ruler and allowing them to realize they would all die if they didn't desist. Did he think they were truly a threat to her power?

Or perhaps he merely mistook her kindness for weakness. Those silly children, did they really think they stood a chance? They were merely pawns on her chessboard. But two could play this game.

"Tell him this, darling," she crooned to the shaking mesenger. "To the contrary, the game has just begun."

* * *

_AN: Ah yes, we're getting to the good stuff. LordPeanut... my sweet summer child. If you think that was the worst thing to go wrong, well, you're in for a ride, my friend! I'm glad you liked the last chapter, I had fun writing it. This one sort of happened, and just wouldn't stop, so it's a bit longer than the rest, but hey! Longer is good too. I do feel bad for everything I have planned for them all, just a little. Especially Jane, poor dear. _

_Feedback is much appreciated! Please review? _


	7. Chapter 7: Worrisome Developments

Despite the trying times, young men and women generally still tried to have good days, if they at all could. Two young ladies definitely had the ability to give themselves good days, simply by spending time with each other. Currently, these two ladies were spending the night in the secret underground headquarters, as promised a little over a week earlier: they were going to forget the revolution, forget the Condensce, forget the world and just relax and enjoy their time together, just for a night.

"So I said, _why don't you actually read the lab instructions_. And do you know what this idiot did? He—" Roxy paused in her tale to let a giggle bubble out, then still grinning so widely her cheeks hurt she continued, "He ignored me, put his head up in this ludicrous way," and here she turned her chin up in a parody of her unfortunate classmate, "and then _slammed his hand on the wrong button!_ He just turned the appearifier off instead of creating paradox slime in the first place!" Unable to contain herself she burst into laughter, so amused by her own tale that she couldn't remain propped on her elbows and just flopped onto the carpet.

The laughter was contagious and Jane found herself also lying on the carpet, giggling and laughing half at Roxy's story and half at Roxy herself, flailing and gasping for breath, until she found herself misty-eyed.

"I don't understand how you can be stupid enough to mess that up, that's the easiest part!" Roxy exclaimed in a rare moment of being able to hold in another round of chortling, then collapsed again. "It was soooo funny, Jane, oh my god!"

"Well," Jane giggled as she pushed herself back into a half-sitting position, leaning on one arm, "I didn't see that happen but last week, I did see the poor new apprentice make the most basic mistake possible! He mixed up the salt and sugar! It was _ridiculous_!"

"Oh god!" Roxy snorted. "Even _I _ know not to do that, and I can't bake to save my life!"

"Well, I know nothing at all about ectobiology or whatever, so I think we're even." Jane grinned, then crossed her arms and huffed. "I hate not having glasses, everything is so blurry!"

"When do you get new ones?" Roxy asked, rolling over onto her stomach and propping herself up on her arms. A lock of wispy blonde hair fell across her face, and for the next few seconds she entertained herself by blowing at it in the hopes that it would tuck itself behind her ear again.

"When I save enough up from the bakery," Jane sighed. "Glasses are expensive! Now I have to squint at all the recipe cards for the ones I haven't memorized, and at all the ingredients I measure. It's a pain."

"Whaaaat?" the other girl sat up with a frown. "How much? I'll cover you!"

"What—no, I couldn't ask you to do that!" Jane sputtered, flustered. She reached up to adjust her glasses in a nervous habit, but ended up poking herself in the cheek instead.

To her credit, Roxy did make a valiant effort not to laugh, but it failed rather miserably. Jane also made a valiant effort to look affronted, but laughter has always been contagious and so instead both of them just lay on the floor and giggled.

"No, but really. I have money, I'll buy them for you! That way—" the upperclass girl started, only to be cut off by her friend.

"You don't have to do that! Really, I'll just save and go without some things for a month, and new glasses, that's it!" Jane shook her head quickly, making no-no motions with her hands as well. It was such a sweet thing of Roxy to offer, but she didn't need to spend her own money on something like this!

"Janey," Roxy sighed, catching the gesturing hands. "I am going to buy you glasses. If you don't want me to, you'll just have a pair with the wrong prescription. So, what will it be?"

"Oh, fine," Jane sighed back at her with an air of resignation. "You're too good to me!"

"I know how you can make it up to me," Roxy winked. "_Cookies._"

"Seriously?" An almost disbelieving look was directed at her. "Cookies? That's it?"

"Jaaane! Your cookies are _heaven_!" Roxy rolled onto her back in order to free her arms to gesture expansively. "Cookies make everything better, seriously."

"Cookies take maybe fifteen minutes to make, and they're not only really easy but also super cheap!" Jane grinned, then sat upright. "Come on, I'll make you cookies right now. Actually I can teach you to make them if you like! I don't think a junk-food diet like you and Dirk run on at your universities is very healthy, you know."

Dismissively flapping a hand at Jane, Roxy shook her head. "Nah, it's just terrible all around, what could possibly go wrong?" she giggled.

"I can think of things," Jane said dryly, tugging on Roxy's hand. "Come on, cookies!"

"Right, cookies!" Suddenly their positions had swapped and Roxy was dragging Jane to the kitchen, almost like a puppy with her enthusiasm. Jane laughed.

It was nice to relax and just spend time with a friend for a change.

* * *

Five days until the next rally, just five...

Jane sighed as she wearily trudged home, cloak hood up to shield against the misty rain that began falling. At least, she thought, it was warmer now. Spring was finally arriving. That was nice, but she wasn't going to really be able to enjoy it, that is even less so than last year. If she thought having a job was busy enough, having a job while planning a revolution was an absolute pain!

But it wasn't like she was going to ever drop either of those; the one was necessary to have the means to survive day-to-day, and the other was necessary to make life better, for both herself and others. She believed firmly in their cause, and furthermore she believed firmly in her friends.

Jake, Roxy, and Dirk had become her family after the deaths of her father and grandfather. Her mother was only a vague memory in the back of her mind; Jane had never really known her save for a warm presence and the idea of a bright smile. Grandfather had told her she had her mother's smile. She missed him, and her dad, too. But she wasn't alone now, and for that she was immeasurably grateful to her friends. The day she had met Jake had been one of the worst days of her life; meeting him was its only saving grace. It had been when she had found out about the accident that had killed her father and grandfather, and when she was wandering home to her now-empty apartment in a dazed state of grief and shock, far too late at night than was really safe to be out, some drunk man on the streets added icing to the cake of despair by attempting to 'woo' her, only frightening her in the process. Jake had appeared, told the man off with first angry words and then a fist, and then walked her home. Through him she'd met Dirk, and when she found out that Dirk and Roxy both knew each other, the family was sealed.

A gust of damp wind made the cloak flutter wildly about Jane's ankles as she stumbled around a puddle, trying to not get her old and worn boots soaked. Blowing out a sigh, she caught sight of her apartment block—_finally —_and with a bit more energy in her tired body crossed the final few meters to her home...

And paused, frowning, when a slouching, cloaked figure inconspicuously leaning in the open mouth of an alleyway pointed at her, directly at her, and said something to his companion, who nodded. Both of them melted into the shadows, but not before Jane caught a word from their conversation that made her blood run cold:

_Mage._

* * *

Jane sat in the kitchen, looking around anxiously every few seconds, especially at the window, whose drapes were drawn. Her legs, crossed at the ankles, swung back and forth under the wooden chair, and her hands clasped in her lap tightly enough that her knuckles were white.

Where to go, what to do? Had they found her out? Oh no, please no, let her still not be under the radar of the Batterwitch!

The idea of being taken from her family and the last vestiges of her old family too, the idea of being forced to use her innate magic to serve the very person she was trying so hard to eradicate, and the idea of becoming less than herself and less than a person, just another pet mage-slave of the Empress, all terrified her. Now, though, she wasn't sure what to do! Did she go to her friends? They would definitely want to know but she didn't dare endanger them, and she was not too keen on staying in her apartment, not if it was possible that the minions of the Condensce knew about her.

What to do what to do what to do?! She desperately wanted Dirk's advice—he was always good at keeping a level head in situations like... well, almost any situation she could think of—but there was no way of getting that, his home was across the entire city and she didn't own a portable communicator! Her only options were Roxy, which would still take a long walk in the rain, or Jake, who was nearby, but either way she might be tailed and then they might be found out too. Not good, not good, not good.

_Calm down_, her rational self said. _You don't even know if they meant you or it was a passing word. It might not have even had anything to do with you, really, maybe they were just saying 'that girl looks too dumb to be a mage'. _

The nervous knot in the pit of her stomach didn't really relax, but it unclenched enough for her to take a deep breath, in, and out. Okay. If they did think it was her, and that she was a mage, it was likely on the word of someone from the dark districts. In that case, she could turn them off her scent if she played it off just right—something like _oh, those silly peasants down there, I have gone down and distributed food and bandages and things, but there's not a drop of magic in me! They must be confused, poor uneducated dears_ might save her skin.

Another deep breath, slow and steady and _calm, remain calm._ She had to talk to her friends, that much was true; unlike some people she knew she sometimes made impulsive decisions. It was better to seek out advice first. Jane shivered, then wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and went to call on Jake.

* * *

He opened the door on the second knock, looking down at her with a bright grin that always appeared on his face when his friends showed up at his apartment.

"Good evening, Jane!" he greeted warmly, drawing her inside.

This had definitely been a good idea, Jane thought as she looked at the familiar, cozy confines of his small home. She could already feel some of the tension starting to drain away, though it didn't fully dissipate.

"Good evening to you, too, Jake!" she smiled up at him. Jake's ... not exactly happiness, per se, but optimistic air, or positive aura, perhaps, radiated and permeated the whole area around him, including his visitor, who found herself genuinely smiling rather than forcing herself not to look nervous.

"Is there a serious purpose to this visit?" he asked as they both entered the little sitting area, comfortably settling down in Jake's armchair in the same snuggled, Jane partly in Jake's lap position that had become common enough over the years to the point that it was no longer a point of embarrassment or blushing but just a habit now.

"Um... yes, about that, actually," she sighed, putting her head in her hands. "I was walking home today, and—"

"What?!" he exclaimed, already jumping to conclusions. "Are you alright? Did anyone—"

"No, no, Jake!" Jane hushed him quickly, shaking her head. "No, not that at all, no one attacked me or anything like that. But outside my apartment, well... there were these two guys in relatively fine-looking clothes, and I didn't hear everything they said but one of them pointed at me and I'm pretty sure I heard him say ... _mage_." Her voice dropped on the last word. "I... I don't know whether they mean they've found me out, or what, or..." she trailed off, looking up at him expectantly and then down at her hands, clasped in her lap again.

Jake was silent for a few heartbeats. "That is worrisome," he finally muttered, frowning. "Very worrisome."

"That's what I thought, too," Jane said dryly.

"I'd like to think that it was just a coincidence, but I think you need to be very careful," he continued seriously after grinning fleetingly at her remark. "Maybe you should stay here for a while..."

"Well, who would get the bed?" she attempted to joke, but could only really muster a slight smile herself. "But that aside I'm a little worried that they might see me acting differently and take note of that. That, and also I don't want to drag you down with me!"

Jake huffed. "Now see here, Jane, you're not dragging me anywhere! Whatever I do for you is of my own volition, and if it ends up with me sitting next to you wherever we end up, so be it."

Something else she didn't want to think about: wherever she might end up.

Jane bit her lip, and slowly met his gaze, shifting so that one of her hands was on his shoulder. "Jake, I... I'm scared." The admission made it seem that much more real, too, and a wave of dread crashed over her.

"That's why I'll be with you the whole time!" he promised earnestly. "I'll keep you safe, Jane."

She hugged him. "Thank you."

After a moment she pulled away to resume their previous position with an air of mentally dusting herself off. "But back to pragmatic concerns... what do you think?"

Jake looked thoughtful, a crease forming between his brows as he frowned in contemplation. "I honestly am not very sure," he replied uncertainly. "Act normal, I suppose, but be on your guard. I feel like there really ought to be more I can do, however."

Jane shrugged. "I don't know what I could ask you to do!"

"Perhaps if I came to stay with you for some time?" he suggested. "We could say that it's because I didn't have enough money to pay for my water bill this month so I'm temporarily mooching off of you, should anyone inquire."

Jane began to look hopeful for the first time that evening. "Would you really be willing to?" she asked, smiling slightly. "I mean, it's asking a lot."

"I told you," Jake grinned, "I'm sticking with you."

Her smile could have lit up the whole city.

* * *

_AN: Wow, this took forever to write in comparison to the others! Hm, I'm really busy and I'm going to be struggling to keep trying to update within 5 days of my previous update. I might have to reduce it to once a week or so, though I'll try not to! _

_I'll also be out of town with probably very little time to write at all for 2 weeks in the near future, so probably one more chapter then a bit of a wait, but we'll see. Just a heads up!_

_LordPeanut: Fun fact: Crockertier was not what I originally planned, but thank you for the idea! :) :) :) As you can see, she didn't need to break her promise to get in trouble xD and I have even more in store. And no, we don't know a lot about Jake and Dirk. Dirk's never really had the need to destroy any souls so far, and well, what even does Jake do in canon? XD Actually I'm trying to write a bit in of him subtly doing magic without even realizing it, like how he's always __hopeful__ and Jane always notes that he has this ability to hold things together and not ever give in to things being sucky and dark. _

_Snowy: Hi friend and welcome to this story! :) I'm really glad you like it, and even more glad that you think I'm getting characterization right! I find myself worrying about making them ooc a lot, so I'm super happy you think it's accurate! And thank you so much, it's a very high compliment to know that my AU is one that draws someone who is selective about AUs in. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!_

_By the way... I have a basic outline of main plot points but things you guys suggest have a possibility of actually being put in __like crockertier!jane I mean what__ so if there's something you'd like to see, drop it in a review and I'll consider adding it! Okay, concluding this long note with this, thanks for reading (both note and more importantly story)!_


	8. Chapter 8: Flours and Flowers

A tap on her shoulder directed Jane's attention to her companion, who had joined her in the line to buy flour. She smiled up at him happily, because even if she was more fearful than usual for their lives at least her friend was with her and that was worth something, right? Then the item he was proudly clutching caught her attention, and her face lit up even as part of her wondered how much money he'd spent on them.

"Jake!" she laughingly scolded. He was grinning and holding out a bouquet of wildflowers, purchased from the little girl wandering the marketplace and advertising her hand-picked wares. "When I said we need to buy _flour_, that's not what I meant!"

Nonetheless, she allowed him to carefully tuck a bloom into her hair, still with a little smile on her face. Jake stepped back and nodded in satisfaction.

"There!" he proclaimed. "You look even more lovely than usual!"

Jane giggled, then stole a flower from his hand. Standing on the tips of her toes, she made her best attempt to place it in his hair, as securely as she could. "You're too tall, Jake! But at least we match now."

Jake laughed, reaching up to adjust the flower so that it didn't fall, then patting her head. "Indeed, we do! But I think the problem might be that you're too small."

"Why, you!" she exclaimed in mock outrage, gently elbowing his side. "At least, noble sir, use your great height to tell me why this line is moving so slowly?"

He laughed again, looping his arm around her shoulders, and after peering over the tops of the heads of those in front of them as best as he could, replied, "It appears that the proprietor is having an argument with someone ahead of us."

"Again?" Jane groaned, letting her head fall against Jake's shoulder in mild despair. "We might be here for hours!" The man, a crochety one with a good eye for wares, was Jane's usual vendor for ingredients, but he really knew how to haggle, and he also was an expert at holding his ground in a stand-off. It could get quite frustrating.

"Really? My, what a cantankerous old fellow!" Jake said good-naturedly, adjusting his glasses. Jane wrinkled her nose. Of course, nothing could get this one down!

"So, to recap," she complained lightheartedly, "I'm half-blind, hosting a boy who comes to my house to mooch off my food, and stuck in a marketplace line for who knows how long?"

"Pretty much!" Jake beamed infuriatingly, then lost his ability to maintain that smirk and broke into laughter. Jane giggled, too, but then straightened.

"Oh! Jake, look, the line's moving again!" She quickly stepped forward to make sure no one would squeeze in front of them. "Well, unless someone else starts bothering the old coot, we should get out of here in not that long now!"

Truth be told she was very glad of this fact. Jake's presence assuaged her fears and kept her from fretting and worrying herself too much, but it was pretty much impossible to completely quell the knot of cold fear that had become an everyday fixture in the pit of her stomach since that one evening three nights ago. It would be good to get out of the streets and the public eye and back into the relative security of her apartment.

As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, Jake casually draped his arm around her shoulders again, giving her a gentle squeeze and encouraging wink. "Excellent! The sooner we're out of here, the sooner we get home and I can mooch off of your cooking!"

Another laugh found her, despite her misgivings about being here at all, which were starting to come back as the sun began to set, the tall rickety buildings casting long shadows on the cobbled bricks of the road. "Are you ever not hungry?"

"Nope!" he grinned broadly. "It's a special talent."

The line moved forward again and they both shifted up two steps. "You seem to have perfected it, for sure."

"Why, thank you, Jane! Such a high compliment."

"You're welcome. You know I don't hand out high praise lightly!"

"I do know that! It means an awful lot to know you think I've mastered the art of never turning down food."

"Did it take a lot of practice?" she asked wryly, taking another one of the flowers from his bouquet and idly twirling it between two of her fingers.

"Oh, you have no idea. But the thing is, Jane, you can never truly master it, so you always need more practice." Jake was grinning ear-to-ear.

Once more the line shifted forward, moving much more quickly now that the cantankerous proprietor and his crabby previous customer were separated. They were almost to the selling booth, finally.

This was good, because the sun had nearly set completely, and Jane really didn't care for the thought of being outside after dark, even if it was only barely dark. Even if this was just the lower districts and not the dark districts, they were still pretty unsafe. And in her present, possibly precarious position, it was definitely better to remain safe than to be sorry.

She really didn't need more to worry about, what with the rally being in a scant two days. Dirk still hadn't come by to talk about the speeches, so she assumed it would just pretty much be a mixture of last time plus some improvisation, but who knew? Rallies were fickle things. Hopefully, this one wouldn't end in her nearly getting trampled, because _that _was definitely not her ideal way to go.

Another little pang shot through her at the thought of Dirk and Roxy. Neither of them knew about the ... _situation_, as Jane had taken to calling it in her mind, and they really did deserve to know—but what could they do about it, anyway? Hopefully nothing reckless, at least. It seemed like her world had turned upside-down in just a matter of days, all over again, and this time the two upper-district residents had been left behind in its upheaval. It almost felt like she hadn't seen them in weeks rather than days! Ever since Jake had come to stay with her she had felt more like she had before joining the Movement, which was simply focused on day-to-day survival more than anything else. But now, she had to at least plan what she was going to say at the rally, because as Dirk had said, stage fright definitely could be killer.

Jake pulled her, quite literally, from her reverie by tugging her forward in line. Now only one person stood between them and the ability to purchase flour so Jane could bake some fresh loaves of bread for them that night. "Come along, Jane!" he said jovially.

"How are you still so energetic?" she asked with a little laugh. "I'm ready to go to sleep already!"

"It too is an art requiring much practice," was the solemn reply. Jane was about to open her mouth to issue another sarcastic retort when his lips twitched, and he added, "But mostly it's because I'm just looking forward to a good hot meal!"

"Right, you never make yourself dinner. I'd forgotten. Dirk and Roxy are influencing your eating habits with all their junk food from university, hm?" she chuckled. "How all of you get by on that kind of sustenance is beyond me."

Jake shrugged. "It's fast, at least. More time for sleeping!"

Jane laughed, but didn't get a chance to say anything because now it was their turn to buy a sack of flour, finally.

"Good evening, Mr. Frenn," she greeted politely, digging into her purse for the correct amount of change.

Frenn nodded gruffly. "Evenin'," he replied. "Big or small bag?"

Jane paused. Usually, she purchased the small bag; however, she'd been saving up a bit more and now could easily afford the larger one, and now her lack of arm-strength wasn' a problem. "Well," she said with a wry look at Jake, "I guess we can put your excess energy to use." Turning back to the flour vendor, she smiled and pulled out a few extra coins. "The big bag, please."

The old man grunted and filled a sack with flour, then accepted and carefully counted Jane's coins before handing it over.

"Thank you!" Jane looked expectantly up at Jake, who handed her the flowers to free his hands so he could obligingly hoist up the sack, and then the two of them began to walk home.

"You know," Jane commented as she bolted the door, "this place is really depressing to look at."

"How so?" Jake asked over his shoulder, entering the kitchen to deposit the cumbersome sack in the proper cabinet.

"All dark brick and chipped stone, old tall buildings that block out the sun! It's not very aesthetically pleasing." She took the flowers in her hand to the table where she placed them in a vase. That at least was pretty to see!

"Well, I suppose you're glad we found a place in the upper side of the Tunnels, then?" his voice floated back to her, followed by a _thump_ and a yelp.

Jane, mildly alarmed, darted to the kitchen door, where she stood for a moment staring at Jake, sitting on the floor, in amusement before starting to laugh. "Did you drop it or something?" she giggled.

He huffed and crossed his arms, but any irritation he may have tried to project was completely nullified by the small cloud of flour still floating around him and the fact that his head and shoulders were liberally dusted in it, though the vast majority remained in the bag. It appeared that Jake had accidentally dropped the bag, whose crudely-fastened top had flown open and flour had soared out.

"Something like that," he answered, then sneezed. Jane burst into laughter again, and Jake found himself chuckling as well, despite the flour dust that obscured his vision—dammit, the stuff was all over his glasses!

"You are a silly boy," she told him, now crossing the kitchen's tile floor to find a rag so she could start cleaning up. Jake grinned up at her, then when her back was turned he dipped a hand into the little pile of flour already on the floor.

As soon as she turned back around to start wiping up the flour, he triumphantly tossed the handful at her, successfully scoring a hit on her cheek and in her hair, and also eliciting a surprised squeak as she recoiled.

"That's for the moustache!" he exclaimed.

Jane smacked his arm. "You got me, fair and square. But this means _war_! And also a bit of a longer wait until dinner's ready."

"Fiddlesticks! Well, I'll help you clean up," he offered earnestly, looking at her with more than a little trepidation. "If that'll settle the score at all. Or I could just surrender this war."

"Good to know you realize you can't win a prank war against me," she smirked, then tossed him the wet rag. "Here, wipe up the floor please? I'll go ahead and set the bread to baking, so it'll be done by the morning. Tonight I'll make flatbread, because it doesn't need rising time. That'll be ready in about an hour."

Jake obediently set about using the damp cloth to wipe the flour dust from the floor and cabinets and drawers after carefully placing the full bag into its designated cabinet. Jane measured some out into a large bowl, adding flour, oil, salt, and water and kneading the dough, humming as she worked.

There was a sharp rap on the door.

Both of them tensed, exchanging glances. Jane placed her bowl of dough on the counter and carefully walked to the door, Jake standing in the kitchen doorway and watching, and slowly pulled it open.

"What," Dirk Strider asked, raising an eyebrow as he took in her flour-dusted appearance.

"Oh, hi, Dirk!" she greeted with the slight overenthusiasm that comes with a rush of relief. "Come on in!" Stepping back, she opened the door more fully to allow him to enter, slamming it shut a bit too quickly immediately behind him and sliding the locks and bolt into place.

"What," he repeated upon seeing the even-more-flour-coated Jake hovering in the doorway, one hand casually holding a pistol. "Did something happen?"

"Jake dropped the flour," Jane explained with a giggle. "And then threw some at me, which," she twisted halfway around to wag a finger at her other friend, "he is going to regret."

"Hello, Dirk!" Jake greeted cheerfully, placing the pistol back on the side table, where he could grab it again if necessary. "If at any point I stop showing up to meetings, assume Jane has brutally defeated me in a prank war."

Dirk's lips twitched and he snorted in amusement, though his eyes still held bemusement and a bit of caution at their odd behavior. Well, odder than usual. "I'll keep that in mind. Try not to kill him, Jane?"

To his surprise, Jane didn't laugh at that, instead shaking her head vehemently. "I would never dream of it!"

"Good to know that!" Jake came to stand behind her and clapped her on the shoulder with a floury hand, successfully dispelling the momentary look of darkness that had crossed her face.

"Jake!" she scolded, playfully slapping his arm again but laughing again, too. "Cut that out!"

He grinned down at her, chortling, and then looked back to Dirk. "So, Dirk, what brings you here this fair evening?"

"I figured we could talk about speeches again," replied the other young man. "Is that alright, Jane?"

"Of course!" she nodded, all business. The light orange flower Jake had tucked into her hair earlier fell and fluttered to the floor, unnoticed. "I'll just finish preparing dinner, then we can sit down and straighten things out! Oh," Jane placed her hands on her hips, giving him a stern look, "and don't think you're not staying to eat actual food, not whatever that disgusting stuff you and Roxy seem to think is appropriate for dinner. I don't care how fast it is to prepare, it's not good food!"

Yes, Jane was economically challenged these days. But she would always champion the cause of good, homemade food over the strange, chemical-laden and artificially flavored sugary junk that seemed to characterize the markets of the upper districts; the food there seemed made more for the aim of being aesthetically awe-inspiring and colorful and pretty, not actually nourishing. Jane's father had had dreams of opening a bakery with her and had instilled in her the love of cooking that she bore to this day; even though now she knew she would never own her own business, at least until the Batterwitch was overthrown, she still loved to create her own works of culinary art and give her friends actual good food.

"Uh..." Dirk ran a hand through his hair. "Sure, I guess."

"Good!" Jane beamed as Jake added, "It's not like you really had a choice there anyway, Dirk!"

"I'll just be a moment!" Jane called over her shoulder as she whirled away back into the kitchen, returning to kneading her dough and making a separate dough with yeast, precious commodity that it was, to set in the oven to rise before she baked it.

"So, Jake. What're you doing here? I thought it was past the usual time for you to be back at your place."

"It _is _past the safe time to be out in these districts, now that you mention it," Jake replied, intentionally or unintentionally sidestepping the question. "Are you truly planning to walk back across town on your own later tonight?"

"I have a sword," Dirk shrugged.

"Oh, don't be stupid!" Jake exclaimed. "It is really not safe out there!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do, stay the night?"

"Yes," Jake answered as if it were obvious. "Ja-ane!" he called more loudly.

"Mmhmm?" her voice drifted back to them.

"We're sharing the bed tonight!"

"Yeah, I know!" Apparently, she had already come to the same conclusion—that they really shouldn't let Dirk go out into the streets after dark, armed or not. The crime rate in the lower districts was pretty high, after all, and included gang activities that were often based in the dark districts. Most people, if they knew what was good for them, kept their heads low and stayed as uninvolved as possible, and Jane and Jake were no exceptions to this rule. It was as simple as life and death, and a truth all who lived in the lower districts knew from childhood. So Dirk would have the couch tonight.

"Good, I was just making certain!"

Dirk had opened his mouth to object but then closed it again, amusement flickering in his amber-colored eyes. "Well, if you insist so badly."

"We do," Jake assured him.

"You never answered my question, though," Dirk pointed out. "What are you doing here, just mooching off of Jane's food?"

"Yes," Jake grinned, but the amusement faded quickly to be replaced by anxiety and concern. "If anyone else asks, I spent unwisely last month and was unable to pay my expenses, so I am temporarily residing with my good and kindhearted friend."

"And if I ask?" Dirk's eyes narrowed, his body seeming tense despite his casual posture.

"I'm staying here because a few days ago—we aren't completely sure of what it was, but there's no harm in being a bit more cautious, right—there were some apparent upper-districters, an official-looking bunch, who Jane noticed watching her when she came home, and she overheard one of them say 'mage' and point at her. We don't know how much cause for alarm this is, but..."

"Well, shit," Dirk muttered, casting a look at the door to the kitchen, from where Jane could be heard singing to herself as she worked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Jake sighed, shaking his floury head. "I'm worried, she's scared, it's all a tad upsetting."

"A tad," Dirk nodded. "Just a smidgeon, not a big deal. Right."

"Do you have any idea what to do?"

Dirk froze, then sighed, slumping onto the couch near them and unbuckling his sword from his side, upon which it clattered to the wood of the floor. "I ... hm. I think what you're doing is the best idea, at least while we have this little information on the situation. Oh, this might be useful," he added, digging around in one pocket of the bag slung over his shoulder to pull out an object shaped approximately like a rectangular prism, with a keypad and screen.

"It's only a prototype, but it should serve the purpose we need," he said, setting it on the table. "It's solar powered, so when you're not using it set it near a light source—"

"Dirk," Jake interrupted, "what _is _it?"

"Oh. Sorry, heh. It's a rough version of a handheld communicator that's off the main networks. Since it's not refined I only connected it to my account, so it can only send and receive messages to and from me, but it's discreet."

Jake leaned forward curiously. "That seems handy."

"Yeah, I hope so. Hey, where's Lil Seb gotten off to?"

"Jane's bedroom, I believe," Jake answered absently as he turned the small but slightly heavy device over in his hands. "He's been fairly quiet, so that at least is some sort of relief."

Just then, Jane called from the kitchen, "Boys! Dinner's ready, come get it while it's hot!"

Handing the communicator back to Dirk, Jake stood and bounded to the other room. "I'm famished! What do we have today, Jane?"

Dirk laughed softly and followed him, watching the two of them with a small, fond smile from the doorway for a moment. They were both laughing at some silly comment, Jane at the stove making another round flatbread and Jake dancing around her to gather plates and bowls and cups. Despite the worries surrounding them, the two of them seemed genuinely happy, hopeful even.

Jake grabbed a napkin and after running it under some water, wiped the remaining flour from Jane's cheek. She flipped the flatbread on the pan and turned to him with a bright smile, bestowing a light kiss to his cheek with mild difficulty and more laughter, and then passed him a plate with already-cooked flatbreads stacked on it.

And then she looked up and caught Dirk's eye, raising a hand and beckoning him in. The small smile grew slightly, and he found himself drawn into the chaos of the kitchen. Jane took his hand and pulled him over, handing him a plate as well, and directing him to the chutney on the counter that Jake was helping himself to.

She smiled up at him and kissed his cheek as well, and then stifled a giggle when he blushed. Making her own plate, she turned off the stove and then joined her two friends at the little table. The flowers nicely decorated it, a small burst of color in the room.

They ate the meal, serious matters pushed aside for now. At least for the time being, the three of them were content to just be friends and be merry, for once deciding not to worry about what the future would hold and whether the day would ever come.

And for once, it was just very, very nice.

* * *

_AN: Ah, something calmer and sweeter. Not every chapter can be full of plot twists, after all! This one was just fluffier, I tried to give the poor dears a break. Either way, have a nice extra 1000 words or so, this one was longer than the rest of my chapters by quite a bit! It just kept coming. Thoughts, comments, etc, are always appreciated, and thank you for reading! _

_LordPeanut: ...I'm not totally sure if that's genuine love for crockertier and you want me to include it, or an attempt at reverse psychology to get me not to make Jane suffer? :P I haven't actually even decided if that'll be a thing, so either way... you might have a chance at persuading me. And here we go, here's Dirk! He didn't do a lot this chapter but he'll be around next time, I think. Yeah, Jane has really good friends! They'll be there for her... and she'll be there for them._

_Snowy: asdjfkld;saj you make me very happy! I'm seriously super flattered! Eee, thank you, and I hope you enjoyed this one too! :) The plot thickens, indeed._

_As mentioned, I'm going to be out of town for two weeks starting at the end of this week, so I don't know if I'll get another chapter out by then or not, and I don't have any clue if I'll have time to write during those two weeks. So possibly a little hiatus there, heads up!_


	9. Chapter 9: Planning Is Important

Less than twenty-four hours until the next rally in the market square remained, and the clock kept ticking. The group was, of course, meeting that night, because due to the rather impromptu scheduling of this rally, they had a less-organized schedule and needed all the planning time they could get!

Roxy casually sauntered down through the bright and bubbly main blocks of the upper city, full of colorful lights and screens advertising products, past stores full of mannequins adorned with bold strokes of color in amazing shapes, each blazing with lights in the windows as well. That was the best word to describe the upper districts, bright. Everything was designed to be eye-catching and loud and "pretty", though she honestly found them annoying (especially on those days, more common in the past, when she woke up with a hangover). But they had their perks, and one of those was that if you knew how, it was _very _easy to blend into the background and let the overwhelming sensory overload wash over you and hide you from searching eyes.

And Roxy Lalonde was nothing if not good at escaping attention. Sometimes she even felt like she was invisible, but that was just fantasy! Still, she attracted no attention and easily made her way into the darkness of the Tunnels. Unlike Jane, Roxy felt quite at home in the blackness, navigating it with ease. She traversed the relatively short albeit rather turn-laden path to the hideout, content in the knowledge that she was, as usual, unnoticed—in the Tunnels the rule was if you don't ask for attention, you get none—and entered, a small smile on her face. Navigating the hallway that led to the meeting room was no trouble, and she walked in to find one other sitting on the couch already, carefully cleaning his sword.

"Hi, Dirk," she said with a cheery smile, plopping down on the couch next to him.

"Hey, Roxy," he replied, taking his eyes from the blade long enough to give her a half-smile before returning to his work.

They sat in a quiet silence for a few minutes until Dirk finished, sheathing the sword and placing it on the low table that the three couches faced.

"So," Roxy ventured, drawing out the word into a long _soooo_. "How was your day?"

"Good enough. That exam I mentioned in electronics was today, but it was a lot easier than I was expecting it to be. Which was nice, because I didn't actually study last night."

"Whaaat?" she drew back, widening her eyes in mock astonishment. "What were you doing instead of studying?"

"I was at Jane's house," he replied, his face growing grim. Roxy was instantly on guard.

"What am I out of the loop on this time? Is she okay?" she asked quickly, an urgent undertone in her voice belying the underlying fears.

"She's okay, for now at least," Dirk nodded tersely. "Apparently she might be under watch for suspicion of being a mage."

"I bet it's because of all that dark district dumbness," Roxy muttered, shaking her head. "This is bad, very bad, I don't like this one bit! Can we do anything?" It was more of a rhetorical question than an actual one, but Dirk shrugged.

"I gave them a prototype I've been making for us to use later. It's a communicator that's off the main network, like the computers I've set up in here, but it's only connected to my account because, like I said, it's a prototype."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up. 'Them'? Jake's with her?"

"Yeah, sorry, forgot to mention that."

Roxy looked palpably relieved. "Well... I guess that's good, at least. Jane really worries me sometimes, you know? She's so passionate about everything but she has no consideration for herself, it makes me want to tie her to a chair and yell at her about thinking before she does these things."

Dirk chuckled dryly. "Roxy, you're not exactly the best person to lecture on the merits of thinking before acting."

"Or am I?" she winked at him cheekily. "For all you know, I just have a carefully-constructed façade of being a slightly impulsive conjurer law-school girl and I've already planned this all five steps ahead."

"For all I know, right. Except I do know that while you're plenty smart enough to pull that off, you're also a bit too lazy."

"Maybe that's part of my act!" she laughed, then shook her head. "Nah, you're right, as ever, Strider."

He grinned at her. "I know."

She reached over and smacked him lightly, eliciting a laugh, then both sobered. Dirk sighed.

"But... you are right. At least she's not a total optimist and idealist on top of everything, she's cynical, which is something in her favor most of the time. In that regard, she and Jake are definitely good for each other. I think she'll be okay, though."

"I hope so," Roxy murmured. "Damn, Janey, always getting into trouble!"

"It's like you said. She's too passionate but never uses her head." Dirk ran his fingers through his hair again with mild exasperation.

"Well, that's why she has us," Roxy smiled fondly. Jane was her good friend, the sweetheart. She would always be there for her, and she knew the opposite was true, as well. And it extended to the two boys, too—the four of them were a family, not just a group of friends.

"That's why we have each other," Dirk affirmed.

* * *

Stepping outside, Jane surveyed the sky. The eve of the second big rally, the really, really audacious one, was grey and misty and humid, coming on the tail end of a rainy day. The clouds seemed to be moving away, though, so she figured they would have no impact on turnout. Hopefully once they fully cleared, the weather would be revealed to be a beautiful, sunny spring day, perfect for overthrowing a government.

At the moment, she was walking through the maze of alleyways and warrens that comprised the path to the entrance to the Tunnels, the notorious labyrinth that ran under the city. No one really knew their original purpose, but now they served as meeting-places and secret locations or homes for those with none better. The hide-out that the four friends had taken to using had been found as an abandoned... something with several rooms, and a hidden entrance, which was perfect for their use. It had a somewhat labyrinthine setup of its own, which was even more perfect; Dirk had used his knowledge of electronics and wiring to make sure they had power, and they all kept it stocked with food that Jane usually took it upon herself to cook whenever they had meetings.

Jake, too, was walking with her, and she had to admit he cut an impressive figure in the flapping cloak. He was tall and while he wasn't exactly burly, he was still muscular, thanks to his factory job that required hours of intensive physical labor. That combined with his "dashing good looks", as he had called them with a wink, gave him quite the notable appearance. Jane, meanwhile, was demurely walking alongside him, garbed in a plain blue skirt and blouse under her own tightly-drawn cloak with a cloth-covered basket on one arm. Their arms were linked and they walked more or less in step, though they didn't speak for now—the less sound, the less attention gathered, the better.

Entering the Tunnels proved to be a mild hassle without glasses, and not for the first time Jane cursed her poor vision. It was darkening outside, already dark underground, and the surface of the earth as well as the steps leading down were all rough and easy to trip over. Muttering darkly to herself, she clutched at Jake's arm and shot him a look that just dared him to laugh at her, which to his credit he didn't, instead helpfully guiding her down the stairs until they were in the pitch-black of the Tunnels and had the same visibility, which is to say none.

A few more quiet moments in the darkness brought them to the entrance to the hideaway. Once they entered, both of them seemed to relax some, walking up the hallway that led to the room mainly used for their meetings with a more self-assured air and a bit of light chatter.

Opening the door showed them that both Roxy and Dirk were already there, both of them talking about something or other as they waited. They looked up at the entry of the newcomers, Roxy bounding over immediately to steal Jane away from Jake and sweep her into a hug.

"Janey!" she exclaimed. "Dirk told me about the thing with people maybe finding out about you? Be careful, I'm worrying now! Don't make me worried, I have exams to stress about!"

Jane blushed in embarrassment, looking down to her feet. "Sorry, Roxy, I don't mean to make you worry—"

"Dirk," Roxy interrupted, turning to him and extending one arm in his general direction as if demanding something. The robotics student looked disgruntled but fished a bill out of his wallet and handed it over to her waiting hand. "I don't know why you bother betting against me," she giggled, hugging Jane again. "I said that I figured the second I mentioned I worried about you you'd try to apologize for it. Dirk is now a bit poorer than he was," she explained to the mystified girl. "But stop apologizing, Janey! Just be careful, okay?"

"Uh, Jane?" Jake interrupted. "What do you want me to do with the basket?" He held up the offending item questioningly.

"Oh!" Jane extricated herself from Roxy to scoop up the basket. "Before we get down to business, give me a moment, I'll pop this into the oven and it'll be ready in about half an hour!"

"Oh my god. Janey did you bring us dinner?" Roxy asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes," Jane replied with a smile. "Told you, I don't know how you live on that stuff from those weird colorful stores." She took the basket to the kitchen area, where she removed the cover to reveal a casserole all laid out in its pan and ready to go in the oven. A few minutes passed and the oven was heated, and she deftly slid the pan into the hot space; then dusting her hands she returned to the sitting area and slid onto one of the unoccupied sofas, Roxy plopping down next to her. The taller girl had trailed behind her to the kitchen and watched the casserole on its journey into the oven, eyes bright and eager because wow did that thing look delicious!

Once the four of them were seated, the meeting began in earnest. Most plans were already set, having been determined months in advance; only logistics and details remained, but those were some of the most important parts of the movement and could not be lightly dismissed, else the whole thing fall apart in flames.

"So we know the time, same as last week. The actual rally starts at midday, so we will be there an hour beforehand, and make sure everything is prepared. Jane and I have prepared the speeches, those are ready and they are pretty damn fine, let me just tell you," Dirk was saying. "Jane, Jake, I'm assuming you guys will show up together from the south, and Roxy and I will meet you at the café on the south side, is that good?"

"Sounds great!" Jane nodded, glancing at Jake, who despite his usual lighthearted demeanor looked quite serious as he also acquiesced. "Same mask as last week, right?"

"Yeah, it's your thing now, like mine's the shades. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself." He flashed a grin for a moment before returning to the serious discussion at hand.

"And me and Jake are lookouts again!" Roxy interjected. "Jake, let's switch corners. That way I won't get bored of watching the same place and zone out!"

"That is fine by me!" he agreed. "You take east, I'll take west."

"And when the troops show up, what do we do?" Roxy continued. "Jake, don't look at me like that, they're going to show up. We have to have a plan for it."

"I wish there was an easy way to get our attention from the back without panicking the whole crob," Jane commented. "That way we could know when to wrap things up and get out of there!"

"A flag?" Roxy suggested. "A little red handkerchief on a pole?"

"That... is actually a good idea," Jane said, sounding slightly surprised. "I like it! Simple but effective."

"And then lose the flag before anyone can say you were the one waving it," Dirk added.

"I know, I know," Roxy grinned at him. "I'll even use gloves when handling the pole so they can't see who last held it."

"Good, you can never be too careful out there." Jane clasped her hands in her lap. "So we can make that before leaving tonight, there's red cloth and probably a spare pole or something back here somewhere! When we see that, we announce that we're marching in twelve days and hightail it out of there, right?"

"Pretty much," Dirk affirmed with a snort. "I'll stay with you this time, and we'll go through the north exit through a few back alleyways and head back to my place for the night. Roxy, Jake, you guys stay together too, but go out the south side and lie low in the lower quarter for a bit," he instructed. "In the morning we can all return to our usual homes, I guess. We'll meet up here again not that evening, but the day after, around... is four hours before dusk too early?"

"No, it's fine! The bakery and factory, among other places, are closed for inspection, so we actually don't have work that day," Jane smiled. "It's lovely, the once-in-a-blue-moon days when they actually inspect industries down here. We get holidays!"

Jake nodded. "I'm going to not do anything in particular all day and steal Jane's food, that's the plan."

Jane laughed at him, then Roxy called everyone's attention again. "Okay, that's fine, but now there is a very important question: Janey, is that casserole done yet? I'm so hungry!"

Everyone laughed, and Jane got up to check. "Almost, give it another five minutes!" she reported upon returning to her seat. Roxy groaned.

"Five whole minutes? Oh no, too long!"

Jane giggled. "Nonsense, you're in law school and also taking science courses! That's what I call too long."

Roxy didn't deign to reply, instead dramatically falling back onto the couch cushions with a sigh of "How I just want some Crocker casserole!"

She sat up after a moment again, brightly grinning. "Anything else we need to go over? We've covered signalling, speechwriting, and escape routes as well as times, and everything else I can immediately think of we've talked about previously. Are we ready?"

"I think so," Jake said.

"Yeah, we are," Dirk nodded confidently.

"Hopefully," Jane added.

"Go team!" Roxy cheered. "We can do this! Now, motion to adjourn for dinner? Seconded by my lovely self, thank you Roxy. Meeting adjourned, let's get some food."

It was one of the last few nights of merriment they would have for a long while.

* * *

_AN: Aahhh I didn't want to leave you guys for a full three weeks because that's nearly a month and I hate when stories don't update for a month! So I tried to crank this out as best as I could. We're getting closer and closer to the part I'm excited about, five more chapters to go until we get there! Okay, seriously, I'm going on a trip, no more updates for two weeks! :P_

_LordPeanut: Hm, interesting viewpoint on it, I think! I personally really don't like crockertier because the idea of not being in control of your body and words really freaks me out haha, but I can totally see where you're coming from there! It just broke my heart a bit when she apologized to Jake before killing him. _

_Snowy: I already thanked you once but holy crap you are magical or something, the quality of the writing is what I was fretting about last chapter! As I go on I find myself more comfortable in the characters, but I still worry about that too, so thank you ever so much. And heehee, yes, thanks for the wish for a fun trip! I'm pretty excited!_

_Thank you all for reading, and see you in two weeks! _


	10. Chapter 10: Plans in Motion

As Jane had suspected, the day of the rally dawned clear and sunny. It was a little chilly again, thanks to the rainstorm that had moved through, but at least when in the sunshine the air was warm enough that she didn't feel the urge to steal Jake's warm-looking green jacket, which he had decided he didn't need and draped over his arm as they walked.

The nervous butterflies were certainly all aflutter in her core, expressing themselves in her hands, which never seemed to sit still but rather flitted about as she moved, fingers dancing lightly as if holding something, or playing music, or just moving to dispel that nervous energy. Jake noticed after a few moments of characteristic obliviousness, and seized one of them to hold tightly.

"I take it you're excited," he murmured, amusement and anticipation flickering in his emerald-green eyes.

Jane giggled, a little too high-pitched and long to be natural. "Yes, excited, definitely, that must be it."

"Think of it as a grand adventure!" he suggested with a roguish grin and wink, which were successful in their goal of eliciting a more genuine laugh from her. More earnestly, he paused in his stride to squeeze her hand again, taking the other one as well and meeting her gaze, and added, "I have every confidence that you will do perfectly, Jane."

Jane looked up at him with an air of absolute trust in every word, clasping his hands too. Suddenly it seemed as if the butterflies all settled down and left, as if they had scarcely even been there to begin with, and were replaced with a calm sense of purpose and optimism. Her levelheadedness returned, and with a light tinkling laugh she squeezed his hands back and stepped away to continue walking, saying "Come on, we're blocking the street standing in the middle like that!"

Jake snorted but quickly fell into step beside her once more. Around two more corners and down three more thoroughfares, busy and bustling already even an hour before the rally as people flocked to the market square, lay the café at which they had pledged to meet. It was a mostly quiet walk from that point, the mood too serious for banter but not dark enough to really be grim, just a bit anxious and determined.

As expected, Dirk and Roxy were not yet present. They would, knowing Dirk, arrive precisely on the dot and no later, but knowing Roxy, probably not much sooner either. The two lower-quarter residents entered the café, a small open-air affair with a bar and dessert case. Jane purchased a small pastry and Jake some coffee, and both selected the table that they usually picked—not too far in the shadows or away from anything to make it look like they were avoiding others, but definitely out of the way. It was a little bit of a study in psychology, finding the balancing point between avoiding suspicion and being overheard. This was an innate ability to them, however, as when one grows up in the lower districts, they learn how to survive around many unsavory crowds quickly.

It was due to this almost intuitive sense that Jane refrained from crossing her legs too tightly or nervously looking around too often—if you look nervous, people know you're nervous, and then they wonder what you're nervous about. So she just tapped her feet inside her shoes, something that was less than obvious under her skirt, and stabbed the pastry with her fork.

Jake seemed outwardly relaxed, too, but she knew that didn't really mean anything. "How are you doing?" she asked quietly, looking over to him.

"Fine, fine!" he replied automatically.

"Jake," she sighed and shook her head.

"I ... oh, fiddlesticks, I am a bit apprehensive," he confided, leaning toward her and leaning on one elbow. "But I must confess I worry about you and Dirk more than myself, you're the main targets."

"Jake..." She wasn't surprised, no, but even so it always brought a small rush of affection when he told her he was thinking of her ahead of himself, silly boy. He was the one going to be in trouble, in the thick of the crowd or near the back where the soldiers would emerge! "I'll be fine!"

The smile he brought to her face was genuine and she reached over to take his hand and hold it for a moment, similarly to how he had comforted her earlier, before returning to her pastry. Jake smiled back, not the usual bright grin but a soft, earnest smile, and then shifted to pick up his coffee mug and blow on it in an effort to bring it to a drinkable temperature more quickly.

A quiet heartbeat passed between them, just watching the sky and the market that lay in front of them. The square was crowded and only getting louder, but they almost seemed to be in a separate, secluded bubble of peace. It was almost surreal, Jane thought as she listened to the soft chirping of a bird or two perched in a tree near the café and the distant _bong, bong, bong_ of the clock tower chiming. This beautiful day, just like any other, might be the one on which she died, or on which her life changed forever, if they were captured, or on which things just remained normal and never realized that potential. She didn't try to fool herself and say they were going to overthrow the regime today; they would need more organization, more support, for that, but perhaps today they could at least try and gain more rights, or more recognition to get that support. It was all about publicity, but that was a dangerous game.

But she pushed those thoughts away and watched the clouds drift by for another moment. The strawberry and cream pastry was a bit too sweet for her tastes; they must have drizzled too much honey on it when using that amount of cream. And it could have used a touch more vanilla. But overall, it was a good pastry, and this was a good bakery.

Using the extra fork she had procured for this very purpose, Jane cut a piece of it and held it out to Jake. "Want some?"

He accepted, face lighting up as always when presented with sweets. She laughed lightly, handing him the fork and moving the plate between them and scooting a bit closer on the bench.

"And you can have coffee, if you would like some," Jake shifted the mug to her, but she wrinkled her nose at it.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You drink that stuff with no cream, I'll never understand how."

He laughed. "It is an acquired taste, I suppose."

"On the other hand," she said lightly, "pastries are universally delicious, because they are sweet and not disgustingly _bitter_."

"Yes, they are," he agreed, taking another piece. "Yours are better, though. Perhaps because you are also just that sweet?"

"You two are seriously _adorable_," a voice giggled behind them, and both jumped.

Roxy stood hand in hand with Dirk, both silhouetted by the reflection of the sunlight on the shop windows. Her free hand was lifted in a casual wave as she and Dirk walked around the table to slide into the bench on the opposite side, ruffling Jane's hair as she passed.

"Roxy," Jane teasingly complained. "Don't scare me like that! And good morning, Dirk."

"Mornin'," he nodded. "I hope no one minds me swiping half of that coffee." Even so, he waited until Jake nodded to seize the cup, taking a large gulp of it. Jane cringed, and Jake laughed at her.

"He didn't make his morning coffee because he overslept," Roxy playfully elbowed Dirk. "Something about last-minute robotics homework that he forgot about until last night."

"Did you finish?" Jane asked anxiously.

"Yeah, I did. Not until like five hours ago, though."

"Dirk!" she scolded. "Did you get any sleep at all?"

"About four hours, don't worry," he placated, rubbing his eyes. "I still remember my speech and also the way back to my house, so I'm pretty sure we're fine."

"After this, you're going straight to bed," she sniffed. Roxy laughed again.

"Janey," she cut in, "I have no doubt Dirk will be in excellent care, so I don't need to worry about him. That frees me up to worry about other things, like whether I can have some of those strawberries."

"Yes, Roxy," Jane laughed, pushing the plate to her. "And you too, Dirk. Maybe you need some sugar as well."

Not long after that there remained nothing but crumbs on the plate. Jake fed Jane the last bite and just like that, the leisurely snacking and talking was over. In under an hour, their rally would begin. It seemed to sink in then, and the laughter abruptly drained away as if a plug had been pulled.

"So," Roxy finally said. "Looks like this is it, then?"

"So it is," Jake nodded. "Shall we begin?"

"Let's," Dirk said resolutely, and stood. The four of them left the café's fenced-off patio and began to take what, to any who knew less, appeared to be a casual stroll among friends—a group that in other locations might have stuck out for its odd composition of mingling class members, but here in a mixed market square was less than significant. They first checked to see if there was any blockage along their preferred escape streets, or any significant troop gatherings, and then meandered along near the stage to check for possible booby traps and to make sure all that was needed was set up—notably the small furniture maze in the back room that could provide priceless extra seconds to escape if needed—before they retired to the center of the square, sitting on the low edge of the fountain there.

Only a few minutes of peace remained, but they were not very peaceful but rather filled with apprehension. Jane found herself sidling over to Roxy to just sigh with frustrated tension and let herself heavily lean into the other girl, who sympathetically petted her hair.

"Come on, Janey, it'll be fine!" she said with a small smile. "Stop worrying so much!"

"I know, I know, I know," Jane groaned. "Dirk, are you this nervous or is it just me?"

"I think he's too tired to care," Roxy laughed teasingly. She leaned back and trailed her fingers in the water before lifting them out to flick the shining drops at Dirk, who responded in kind.

"Yeah, she's kind of right about that," he said with a trace of sheepishness as he wiped his wet hand on his shirt.

"Next time do your homework on time," Jane admonished again. "Was it because you spent too much time on this?"

"Probably."

"Well, that's a pretty pickle and no mistake!" Jake shook his head. "But we will have to debate your sleeping schedule later, I believe. It's showtime!"

* * *

Roxy Lalonde knew many things. She knew exactly how to modify an appearifier's settings to account for temporal variables, she knew what the code of law stated was legal and wasn't, she knew exactly how a drink should or shouldn't taste. She also knew that there were things she was good at, like biology, and things she was less good at, like resisting the appeal of fluffy adorable little cats.

But she was very good at being unnoticed, and she knew that, too.

It was due to this ability that she trusted in herself, after telling Jake, to quietly slip up the road away from the main rally. This particular avenue was the same one the soldiers had emerged from last time, and if they were coming again she wanted to be ready. She had a communicator, Jake had another. If she saw something up here, he was a button press away, and then everyone would know to get out again.

Still, she thought with a wry grin, it was flattering to know that they had enough attention to even gain the notice of the armies of the Empress.

Though that had an unfortunate ability to throw a wrench into things.

Either way, she was going to scout around and see if she couldn't detect the soldiers _before _they got to the square this time.

A sharp pain exploded in her toe and stifling a yelp she looked down to see a rock, which apparently she had stubbed it on. _Ow. _

Then, suddenly, she noticed something. Holy shit, she couldn't see her foot! It was _right there_, she could feel it and everything—it hurt like hell after all, stubbed toes were the absolute worst!—but she couldn't see it!

"Oh. My. God." The words were uttered softly, and then she looked at the rest of herself, or tried to. No such luck, however, she still wasn't there! But she was?

Lifting a hand in front of her face, Roxy wiggled her fingers. Still no sign of them... She knew exactly where her body was, but there was no visible evidence she was there. It was the oddest thing! And it could get to be a hassle; what if she needed to do precision work but she couldn't see her hands to do it?

"Come on, self, figure this one out! Why the heck am I invisible in the first place?" she asked her invisible hands. A few minutes of staring at the space where they ought to be and some intense concentration brought a faint, dark shimmer around the edges of her fingers that spread down her arms, and that was the extent of her visibility. It cast no shadow when she experimentally moved her foot, which told her that it was only something she could see.

This was definitely _weird as hell._

But she supposed with a smirk that it would be useful for her scouting duties, and continued to steal down the road.

* * *

Jane smiled broadly with satisfaction as she watched Dirk stride across the stage, passion infusing his voice and his movements just like it always did. She was retreating to the back for now, having said her part of this section of the speeches they'd prepared—with the way it was set up, both of them would speak for an almost equal amount of time, but now it was Dirk's turn. Reaching up, she adjusted the knot in the ribbon holding her mask in place, wishing for the umpteenth time that she could still have been wearing glasses, the new glasses Roxy had gifted her with the night before, so that she could clearly see the goings-on, but alas the mask had no room for the lenses.

Perhaps she could also start a company that made masks for people with glasses. There was a thought.

Now that she was on the stage, though, and everything was going smoothly and well and was just so dang _exciting_, the fluttery, scared nerves that Jake had helped quell earlier had almost completely melted away to be replaced by the high excited flickers of anticipation, of the feeling of doing something that was actually useful. It was a rather rewarding feeling, to be sure.

Her eyes swept over the blurry crowd. Somewhere in the back was Jake, and possibly Roxy—those two had a habit of improvising their locations based on crowd behavior and things they saw, usually with Jake staying in place and Roxy drifting about. They were around somewhere, though.

There was a niggling voice in the back of her mind telling her not to be too confident here, because as Roxy had said there was no chance after last time that they _wouldn't _be attacked, but she didn't want to listen to it. Was it so wrong to want to enjoy the fact that they were making a change? Maybe so, if it got people hurt, but she did want to allow herself that little joy even still. But... people were more important.

The feelings of exhilaration didn't drain away, but her focus did sharpen. Dirk was, of course, caught up in his own enthusiasm as he preached to the crowd. "And even now, we worry that this gathering will be attacked. And do you know why? It is because she _fears our power_!" he called, voice ringing. Jane smiled again with pride as she watched him. He was an amazing speaker, especially considering he was running on so little sleep!

The crowd was also restless, shouting with him or calling out and booing the reign of the Condensce. "Down with the so-called empress!" someone called, and more voices joined in the clamor until Dirk hushed them by beginning another riveting call to action. Jane turned her attention back to trying to spot points of interest in the back of the crowd, like Jake and Roxy.

Neither of them seemed to be visible, which she assumed was a good thing. She and Dirk had agreed—whoever wasn't speaking at the immediate moment had to be watching for the makeshift flag-banner-whatever-it-was that would alert them to the need to flee.

Well, she was watching, and her blue eyes scanned the crowd back and forth and back again, but there was no sign of it. That was excellent; the rally had only been underway for almost an hour. The speeches had the potential to last for over four hours, plus improvisation could always happen, but she didn't really think they would have that much time. But as much as they could get was definitely good.

And it was her turn now. Taking a deep breath, Jane stepped forward.

* * *

No soldiers here, no soldiers there... surely they had realized there was kind of a big rally happening in a market square? Roxy was beginning to become suspicious again. She had stopped to look in a store window; sure enough, her reflection wasn't there. It had been a bit difficult to dodge a group of people who seemed absolutely determined to just walk through her, but she'd managed without them noticing. But now she was far enough from the rally that it was ridiculous that there were no soldiers!

It was making her worry that they might be coming from another angle; surely at least their scouts would have been visible at a much closer distance, if they were going to invade again. And there was no doubt in her mind that they were; it would be bad for the Batterwitch's image if they didn't now that they had already made it clear at the first major rally that they were both aware and in opposition to their movement. Obviously.

The well-oiled wheels of her mind began to turn analytically. Why would there be no soldiers? When she examined a map it became clear that this was the most direct route from their barracks to the market square, and also the one with widest streets for easier access and ability to crush—

Oh.

Oh _shit._

The Batterwitch was a lot of things, but she wasn't _stupid._ Roxy was willing to bet that she figured the resistance would have a scout on this road! Dumb, dumb, dumb, how could she not have thought about this before she went and wasted time scouting up here?

Her newfound invisibility ought to come in handy, however the hell it even worked. Taking a deep breath to stabilize her nerves, she began to carefully scale the side of an uneven brick building, between the wall and the chimney corner. A scraped knee and two near-falls coupled with much muttered swearing later she stood on the roof, looking around the nearby streets.

No soldiers anywhere? Even on the shadier thoroughfares and the less obvious ones? That was surprising—oh, there was a bannerman proudly displaying his standard.

Well, fuck.

Her eyes flicked down to the rickety structure she was standing on. Biting her lip, Roxy edged a foot onto the roof away from the chimney. When it held, she stepped forth on the top beam, and when that too held, she began to lightly run across the rooftops, heading closer and closer to the site of her sighting (wow, that rhymed, how funny her thoughts were!) of the bannerman. She needed to see if they were marching or not, how many they were, and also if they had any pertinent information that an invisible girl might casually overhear.

* * *

Jake English was quite sure he might have been hallucinating.

Either that, or his flag was trying to rip itself out of its hand of its own volition.

Jake English was very confused. "I say, what the hell is this?" he asked the air that was tryig to steal the flag.

"Jakey!" A hand smacked his arm, but no one was standing there. And it sounded like... Roxy?

Jake English was very, _very _confused.

"Roxy?" he asked bemusedly. "Where are you?" He turned about in a circle, sweeping the crowd for any evidence of her, but there was none. "Roxy, this is not funny, it is a serious matter. Where are you?"

"Right here!" her voice exclaimed from his left side. A body latched onto his left arm, but when he whipped around to see, there was no one there. Yet he could still feel her weight and the coolness of her hands.

"What," he said, "the _hell_."

"Oh, fuck!" she suddenly cried with agitation. "I don't know how to come back! I somehow turned myself invisible and that was helpful and everything, but I don't know how to come back!"

"Roxy? Roxy, calm down, I'm sure you can do it, just focus," Jake attempted to soothe her, which was a bit difficult considering that he didn't know where to look other than the general area on his left side.

"But wait, that doesn't matter," she continued, and he assumed she was shaking her head by the fact that her hair was brushing his arm. "The soldiers are coming, but from the street we originally planned to run from. So slight change of plans, follow me as soon as we evacuate. Which needs to be now."

That said, invisible hands took the flagpole from his now unresisting hands and swept it upright. "Tell me when they notice, tall boy," Roxy's voice said as she began to wave it back and forth. Jake nodded and peered forward, eyes pressed to the stage, and hoped that no one would get hurt.

* * *

Dirk was the one who first saw the flag. He was watching Jane speak animatedly, her hands gesturing unconsciously as impassioned words flowed from her effortlessly, and smiling ever so slightly with pride. It wasn't like he was being cocky—he knew there was definitely still a huge element of risk and that it was possible for them to lose—but on a personal level, he was quite proud of Jane for coming out of her shell so much. Honestly, she shone in the spotlight... until a waving flash of red caught his attention.

Thinking fast, he stepped forward as soon as Jane paused for breath, grabbing her hand. "The soldiers of our treacherous empress are coming for us now, my fellow citizens," he called. "Even now, they tell us that they fear our power, because they see it as a threat and they want to make us fall! I ask you to not be afraid of them, because together, we are stronger than they can ever hope to be. In twelve days, it is a national holiday! We will march on that day and show her that we _all _will not rest until there is change. In the Grand Square in twelve days, all of us together! We will rise!"

"Di—_shades_," Jane hissed in his ear. "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer, merely tightening his grip on her arm and yanking her back, off the stage.

"Dirk!" she breathed again, her hands going to her hips. "March? Are you crazy? What are you doing?"

Dirk offered her a grin. "I think we can do it. It's a start! Don't you see, she's taking us seriously. We need to press demands. But come on, I saw the flag, we have to go."

Each of them slung a bag over his or her shoulder, disguises slipped off and regular clothes visible again. Holding hands firmly, they edged into the crowd, which was again starting to stampede as the soldiers rode in from the back. For a moment, Dirk felt a jolt of anxiety—that wasn't how the plan had been made, had Jake and Roxy been taken? That was their road—but it was quickly buried by his concern for himself and Jane.

Unlike his gentler companion, Dirk had few qualms about elbowing his way through the crowd and just tugged Jane along in his wake, though she dodged and wove through the sea of people rather than smacking at them when they didn't part. They soon reached the edges of the throng in this fashion, and both breathing hard, they fled through the streets into the upper districts.

Reaching Dirk's house was no hassle at all; all it required was a change in body language. Both Dirk and Jane were fairly well-versed in the art of making people see what they wanted to see, though Jane was more so than he was. It was her idea to have them walk together as a bubbly, nondescript couple, rather than the furtive, sneaking pair the escaping leaders of a revolution would look like. After all, as she explained to him, people saw what they wanted. And the escaping leaders of a revolutionary movement would definitely not be attracting attention of any sort, in most people's minds.

He had to admit, it was a clever scheme.

So it was that Jane was walking next to him, hand in hand, and giggling as she plucked a flower from one of the few decorative pots along the road. She twirled around, laughing, and reached up to tuck it into his hair, clapping her hands slightly. "There!" she exclaimed brightly. "That's so cute!"

"You're the cute one," he teased and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leaning in for a moment. A middle-aged woman passing them on the sidewalk smiled at them both.

The act continued until they were well away from the market square, when they gradually dropped it and returned to a more normal state of calm, acknowledged affection rather than blatant displays thereof. Luckily, the apartment Dirk stayed in was relatively nearby and not a ridiculously long walk, so they arrived in a fair amount of time. As promised, Jane sent him to bed immediately, even going so far as to pointedly remove the toolbox from the bedroom to ensure there would be no robotics going on.

After that, she set about using the meager ingredients contained by his kitchen to make as lovely a dinner as she could manage for the two of them. It wasn't much, just a stew, but it was definitely better than the instant ... whatever it was in the cabinet nearby.

While the stew cooled to a more edible temperature, she sat and thought about Jake and Roxy before she went to wake Dirk for dinner. Hopefully they had made it out, too.

And across the city, Jake and Roxy, who was (after some difficulty, swearing, and a broken plate or two) visible again, were curled on Jane's couch, eating bread and broth—leftovers from the previous night—and questioning the same thing.

It was a good dinner, on both sides, but merriment was sadly lacking, replaced by worry until communications finally came through—"We're okay, are you?" and "Yes, we're fine, good night!"—and followed promptly by an exhausted, blissful slumber. Between two worlds, four dreamers wondered what the coming weeks would bring.

* * *

_AN: Cool, so as I write this it's about two in the morning. I've been piecing this together for the last two weeks! I'm still not quite done traveling, I'll be home in a few days, so the next chapter is still just currently an outline and not much else, but have this almost 5000-word monster. I have to say, I think I hate writing rallies! There's so much going on! I worry about leaving things out, haha. _

_LordPeanut - first of all, I mistyped that as LordWalnut. Not sure why. Perhaps the two in the morning thing. Anyway, heh heh heh... yeah, have fun with next chapter. It's so close to the point I'm excited about :D and yeah, she's still in there! That's the part about crockertier that terrifies me, like she's still in her body but it's so perverted and wrong that her actions aren't actually her own even though her usual self is just... trapped in her own body and can just see herself doing awful things but is powerless. XD I'm not a fan of mind control, it totally freaks me out! But it's so fun to write and play with because all the angst._

_Snowy - Heh, yeah, there probably were too many of those... I hope I didn't do it again, but I've reread this so many times it's just all running together in my head. Oops. Anyway, thank you so much as usual! I am seriously so happy you like the story. _

_Now good night from me, and thank you for reading, everyone! _


	11. Chapter 11: Mages

A child, shrieking with laughter and wearing ribbons in her brown hair, ran by Jane, brushing her skirt. "Sorry!" she called over her shoulder, giggling as another young girl, perhaps her sister, raced after.

Jane laughed at them both. "No problem!" They were cute, she thought. It was nice to see people being happy, even down here in the lower districts. Fleetingly, her mind floated to the dark districts, but she quickly pushed those thoughts away, stuffing them into the furthest corner of her memory. It wouldn't do to go back there. The memory of the strange men who had called her a mage drifted forth again, and suddenly the sun felt a bit colder. A finger of dread trailed down her spine, and she shuddered lightly before pulling herself back to the present.

She was in the marketplace and she was shopping, and she was _not _about to get found out for being a mage.

Jane raised her chin just ever so slightly and straightened her back. She would not let fear keep her from buying groceries, that would just be silly! No, no, she would go buy sugar, milk, and eggs, and some ribbon and a bit of cloth to patch up an old dress, and then perhaps some berries, and she would go home. No big deal.

Nonetheless, she did wish Jake were with her, just a bit. Maybe she'd just gotten used to having him around for the past few weeks, but it just felt odd now that she was out and about without him. It wasn't like he had moved out yet, he was just working late today while she did the shopping. She would see him at dinner. But being alone in the markets near eveningtime was always slightly unnerving, no matter how long one had been there. Luckily, it was only late afternoon, and the really unsettling, unsavory characters still lurked in the shadows.

She shifted her grip on the twine basket in her hands as the mother of the two children hurried past, holding each in one hand. "Did you apologize to this young lady?" she asked them sternly, stopping in front of Jane before doing a double-take. "Oh, hello, Jane!"

It was her old neighbor from several years ago. Jane recalled that she had had two small children, twins, before moving out, and with a jolt realized that those two twins had grown up into these little girls. "Good evening, Miss Diarre!" she replied with a sunny smile. "It's nice to see you again!"

Diarre beamed at her. "Very nice to see you as well, Jane. Still as charming and sweet as ever, I see. How have you been?"

"Quite well, quite well," Jane shrugged slightly, still smiling. "I'm just doing the week's groceries right now. What about yourself? I see the kids have gotten larger."

The older woman laughed. "Yes, yes they have! See, children," she admonished the squirming girls, who must have seen the pastries in the baker's window, "you should learn to be good young ladies like Miss Jane here, or else Lord English might come get you!"

Jane laughed at that. The two girls paused, looked at each other, then shook their heads petulantly.

"We would just prank the demon prince so bad he wouldn't want us in his dungeon anymore!" one of them said, her sister nodding along. Diarre shook her head and sighed.

"The demon prince is on the prowl again, they say," she attempted again. "You can't get worse than him."

"Let me tell you a secret," Jane offered, kneeling so that she was on their height. "Pranks are wonderful things, and I am sure you could outprank Lord English any day, but all pranksters agree to a code of ethics," she winked conspiratorially. "In order to be a good prankster, you must never prank your mother more than once a month."

The girls stared up at her in awe as she straightened with a demure smile.

"Miss Jane pranks people?" the one on the right asked.

Jane winked again. "Only responsibly!"

They nodded resolutely. "What else is there in the prankster code of ethics?" the one on the left wanted to know.

"I'll have to tell you another time," Jane said quickly. "Good pranksters also never reveal everything at once. Usually."

Diarre laughed. "Thank you, Janey dear. If I had to wake up to another ruined pie, I might just scream!"

Jane winced in sympathy. "Oh, the pies, that is unfortunate. Pies are much better to eat, for the most part."

"For the most part?" Diarre echoed, her eyes twinkling. "Now, now, don't make me remind you to be wary of Lord English too! I was just thinking you would be a good role model for these twin terrors," she affectionately squeezed the two girls, who giggled.

A laugh bubbled out of Jane. "But really, I'm sure the demon prince has more important souls to collect than mine!"

Diarre chuckled. "That is probably true. Well, I'll leave you to your shopping, dear, as we ought to be getting home, but remember, you're always welcome to drop by! I still live in the same apartment block."

Jane nodded quickly. "Of course, I'd love to! Maybe we can do dinner sometime, that would be nice."

The older woman smiled serenely. "I look forward to it, Jane. Good night."

She waved at the little girls until the crowd swallowed them, and then returned to her shopping list. Right, sugar was first, then cloth and ribbon.

The meeting was going to be in about two hours, so she had to finish up the groceries and get home soon. A small meal would be sufficient, since they could also have food during the meeting—which, most likely, would just be a celebratory get-together where they all just enjoyed each other's company—so she didn't need to worry about cooking, but time was still a priority.

The line at the fabric store was a bit long, and that ate up a good deal of the hour she had alloted herself for shopping. But the milk and eggs were both procured very quickly, so it approximately evened out, and she was back in the apartment about an hour before the rally. Dinner would take around fifteen or twenty minutes to prepare, during which time Jake should arrive, and then they could walk together to the meeting-place, and arrive about at the hour mark.

Jane was quite pleased with her timekeeping skills, because it added up quite perfectly! Humming an old song her father had sometimes sung to her, she began to cook a simple soup, chopping a few vegetables and tossing in some cheese for good measure. As the water came to a rolling boil, she added a bit of this and a pinch of that in a recipe that was half from the heart and half made up on the spot. Somehow she always made those recipes work.

Just as she had predicted, as she removed the pot from the stove Jake entered the apartment.

"Good evening, Jane," he greeted amiably, slumping into a chair tiredly. Jane gave him a sympathetic look.

"Good evening. You look knackered!"

"Believe me, do I feel it, too," he groaned. "How long until we have to leave?"

"About twenty minutes or so," she smiled. Gathering two bowls of steaming soup, she placed a spoon in each and walked over to the table, placing both on the wood and then standing behind Jake to rub his shoulders soothingly. "Careful, it's hot," she warned.

He sighed and leaned his head against her for a moment, prompting a giggle from above. "Shucks, I really am tired," he complained. "I don't suppose you have coffee around here, Jane?"

"Surprisingly, yes, I do," she smiled down at him. "Just bought it today, actually. I figured you'd be this tired. Want me to go make some before we leave?"

"Yes, please." With another sigh, he sat up straight and began to blow on the soup in his spoon as she moved back to the stove to make the coffee.

Once it was ready, she rejoined him at the table. "How was work today, then?"

"Tiring," he offered with a laugh. "We did a lot of metalworking today, and the entire shop was ridiculously hot. I prefer carpentry to smithing, to be quite frank."

Jane hummed sympathetically. "That sounds difficult. What were you making, do you know?"

"A bunch of machine parts," Jake sighed. "I'm pretty sure you can guess what for." More military machines, that was. It seemed that the Batterwitch was preparing for war, but with who? No one was really sure, but either way, she was pushing her manufacturing industry much harder than usual.

"Yeah..." she bit her lip. It was unsettling, but who knew what to do about it? Jane sincerely hoped that they weren't for use against the revolution... they were trying to make the world better, not start a war! It was as if the possibility of that just hit her, because she really had always thought that somehow, somehow the revolution would be peaceful and the Empress would just listen to reason and give way to the will of the people. But would she?

Jake pulled her from that dismal train of thought. "I say, Jane, this soup is amazing! What did you put in it?"

She laughed softly. "Vegetables, a bit of cheese, some milk, um... oh, nutmeg and cinnamon, just a hint, for that warmth. Salt, pepper. And I think that's it? I don't really remember."

"Well, I think you should make it again tomorrow night, because it is superb," he winked, taking another gulp.

"I would tell you to slow down and not burn yourself, but we do have to leave soon," she chuckled.

Jake was about to reply when there was a knock at the door. Both exchanged glances of mild mystification as Jane rose to answer it—who would be calling on them at this time?

From Jane's bedroom, a little rabbit-shaped robot emerged, blinking red.

"Lil Seb?" she wondered aloud. The robot scanned the room, then hid behind the bookshelf near the door. That was odd, and mildly alarming.

Jake, too, now rose, following Jane but standing out of sight of the doorway, pulling a pistol from its holster silently.

The knock came again, rap-rap-rap, very official-sounding. Jane bit her lip and carefully pulled the door open enough to stick her head out.

To her dismay and fright, there were two officials standing there, wearing the black and fuschia of the Witch and dressed in robes of the Mage's College that she ran. Jane felt her blood run cold.

"Good evening, gentlemen," she said politely, hoping that her voice wasn't shaking or betraying the fact that on the inside she felt like gelatin. "Is there something I can help you with?"

One of them cleared his throat, stepping forward ever so slightly. Jane unconsciously backed away the same amount, still hiding behind the door. "Good evening, miss," he said in a smooth, baritone voice. "As I am sure you recognize the institution from which we come, I shan't go into that. Instead, let me simply arrive to the point of this visit, bluntly. Come, come, don't stand in there like that," he shook his head patronizingly, and seizing her wrist yanked her out onto the concrete walkway outside her third story apartment. Jane yelped in surprise and pain from the vicelike grip on her wrist. Behind her, Jake lunged forward, but was stopped when he almost tripped over Lil Seb, who apparently had the same idea. Both froze to listen in.

"Much better, now we're face-to-face," he continued, completely ignoring the way she rubbed her wrist or started to edge back inside. It was completely abandoned outside, as everyone feared the officials but _especially _the mage officials. No one would come to help her, that was for sure. "You are Jane Crocker, correct?"

"I—yes," she murmured. There was no point in denying her name, plenty of people could corroborate that piece of evidence.

"We have heard that you might have the gift of healing magic," he smirked. Jane felt a queasy fist of anxiety seize her stomach. "Is this true?"

"I—no, it's not," she shook her head, forcing a demure laugh. "Did you hear that from someone in the dark districts? You see, sometimes I go down there to hand out medical supplies and food. Perhaps the silly dears down there thought that was healing magic."

The man considered her for a moment. Jane felt her heart leap—perhaps he might truly believe her and leave her alone!

His companion shattered that illusion. "I think," he started in a soft voice, "you're—" suddenly he lunged at her, pinning her against the brick wall with a long knife threateningly held in one hand that was far too close to her throat than she would have liked. "Lying!"

Lil Seb flew out of the door and at the man, who with an almost dismissive wave sliced straight through the robot with that wickedly sharp knife. Jane let out a cry as the two pieces of bisected rabbit fell to the pavement with a clank.

"You have a personalized protector bot," the first one mused. "I think there's more to you than meets the eye, Miss Crocker."

Jane's heart was pounding, but she still shook her head. "I—really, I promise you—I'm not a mage, I'm sorry! Please, let me go!"

"Somehow, I'm disinclined to believe that," the second one said, bringing the knife closer to her again. The point was just under her chin, she could feel it. It was good that her mouth was too dry to swallow, because if she had it would have drawn blood.

"How am I supposed to make you believe me?" she breathed, hardly daring to move.

"Excuse me," Jake's voice cut in. Jane felt her stomach drop. No, no, _no, what was he doing out here when he should have stayed safe inside?!_ "I think you need to unhand the lady, now."

Amazingly, the dagger removed itself from her throat, and the man pinning her bodily to the wall stepped back. When she looked, she could still see the fizzling circuits from her poor robot on the ground, and... and Jake, holding twin pistols out at the two men.

"Jake," she whispered, shaking her head. What was he doing?!

"A friend, over for dinner...?" the first man mused, then returned to her with the same oily smirk. "Well, Miss Crocker," he said smoothly, "I do believe we have found a way to see whether you are truly a healer or not."

And that was when he drew a dagger from his boot as fast as lightning, and plunged it deep into Jake's stomach.

* * *

_AN: Many thanks to my moirail for proofreading this for me, because I was so out of it. Aaand yes, here's what I was excited about! Or part of it, anyway. I'm sick and just lying in bed, so who knows when the next chapter will actually be coherent... I know, I know, I'm awful for leaving you with this ending! I'll try and un-cliffhanger-ify it soon, promise. _

_LordPeanut - uhhh... yeah you were probably right about that hahaha! Here is (the start of) the terror and misfortune. :D Still excited? I hope so! And yeah, she was 'focusing right' in a way, she'd never actually noticed her invisibility before but sometimes she did fade a bit out of sight, like when she thinks no one notices her because she's good at blending in but they actually literally can't see her. She's had the ability, she's just now learning to use it! Re- mind control: yes exactly! I feel like if used properly it's an awesome plot device, but man, I do not envy those characters!_

_Rouge (can I call you rouge?) - Thank you so much! I'm pretty sure it won't show up due to formatting but there is a heart there. Anyway, yeah, I still haven't decided on any ships to include, if any, but Jane and Jake are at the least best friends. The way it works in my mind is Jane met Roxy first, then a few years later Jake, and finally through them Dirk. But worry not about Jade, she'll be coming in with the beta kids in a few chapters!_


	12. Chapter 12: Blood

_Warning for a bit of blood. (Should be a bit obvious, but...) _

* * *

Jake let out a horrible gasp of surprise, looking down to see the long knife buried up to its hilt in his own body, then back to Jane almost uncomprehendingly. His hands began to tremble, and the pistols fell to the ground in a loud clatter that made Jane cringe as if someone was about to strike her.

Jane's hands were both clasped to her mouth, shock numbing her body and slowing her mind. "Jake..."

The man sighed. Almost impatiently, he abruptly gave the knife a sharp twist.

Jake let out a sharp cry of pain, recoiling. Blood was beginning to seep through the fabric of his green shirt, staining the fabric a dark maroon as it spread. The agent yanked his knife out of Jake's flesh, and that was when the blood began spurting out like an awful fountain.

Jane screamed.

Jake shook his head, sinking to his knees. "I..." he started, but gasped out a wheeze of pain instead of finishing the thought. His blood was slowly—but much too quickly at the same time—gathering into a pool on the concrete.

"Go ahead, then, _Miss Crocker_," the second man said jovially, as if delighting in their anguish and pain. "I'm sure you realize he'll die without a healer."

Her thoughts were a blur of panic and fear, with a dash of anxiety for good measure. She couldn't think straight, could only focus on the here and now and that Jake was dying, his blood was everywhere and these men were so cavalier about it and it didn't matter if she was found out if only she could save Jake! Jake, Jake was bleeding out in front of her, there was blood on her hands there was blood on the ground there was blood mingling with the pieces of Lil Seb, so much blood.

"I... Jake," she sobbed, clasping his hand between both of hers. He attempted to give her a reassuring smile, and her heart broke into a million pieces that were easily scattered far and wide.

It was as if the world was a frightening whirl of too many thoughts, most of them dark and sad and tormented and afraid, and she couldn't pick any one to focus on. Each led to the next and made it worse, so that she wasn't even aware of screaming again until she started to wonder who was screaming. Her breaths were shallow and her heart was pounding, her core a roiling pit of queasy terror.

"We do not have all night," the first man said impatiently, kicking Jake with a booted foot as Jane crouched at his side, crying and trembling.

Her mind wouldn't cooperate, too confused and fearful, but she took a deep breath and squeezed his hand, then carefully, gently lowered it to the pavement and placed her palms over the wound. Never before had she attempted to heal an injury like this, and her heart pounded even more as she could _feel_ Jake's blood gushing out of him under her fingers. He was losing too much blood too fast...

...and the magic wasn't coming. Panicked, Jane tried to focus harder, groping inside herself to find the usual well of blue misty power that she drew upon, but her mind was still shocked and shaken and reeling and couldn't find it, couldn't connect to it! In shock she stumbled back, trying to find it in herself to breathe, to calm down, to do something, but she couldn't, and all she could do was clutch at Jake's hand and press on his wound and try not to faint because she felt like she couldn't _breathe_, she might scream.

"I can't!" she shrieked at the men. "I can't, I can't, I can't! I can't save him! Please, do something!"

"Try harder," the second one suggested sardonically, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "We can wait a little longer."

She didn't even care what they might do to her anymore, didn't care at all for her own safety or life. "I can't do anything!" she screamed, tears coursing down her face as she tried her best to see through all the blood that spattered her glasses. If she hadn't been pressing as hard as she could to the wound—it was killing her to hear Jake's choked, painful breaths, but it would kill him if she didn't (rather, it would kill him _faster_ than it already was)—she would have lunged for their throats, armed or not. How could they do this to him?

"Jake, please, stay with me," she begged him. His eyes were closed, breathing shallow. "Jake, Jake, please..." The pool of blood was growing, already soaking through the hem of her dress and coating her legs and feet, and more on her arms and hands. It would be a pain to wash out, she thought wildly, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "Jake, please, please, please, you can't just leave me like this, you promised," her breath hitched. _You can't die._

How long she stayed like that, trying to breathe, trying to find her magic but only panicking more when she couldn't keep a firm grasp on it enough to channel it and save Jake, all the while feeling more and more of his blood rush past her hands, she had no idea. It could have been seconds, minutes, maybe even over an hour—but eventually, there was a sigh.

"Very well, Miss Crocker. Unfortunately, it appears you indeed lack the capabilities of a healer," one of the men said. She didn't care which one anymore. "It is a ... _pity_ about your acquaintance. Perhaps, if you know the _actual _healer who lives in the area, you might save him. Otherwise, we're truly sorry." The words were about as true as Jane was a crow, or as true as she cared for what they said, which was very little at all.

"I hate you!" she screamed at them as they left. "I hate you!" The words were meaningless, wouldn't change anything, but gave her a feeling of strange vindictive satisfaction as she shrieked into the night.

Vaguely, she registered their cold, uncaring footsteps receding to the stairwell. It was as if a cloying cloth draped over her mouth was removed and she could breathe again, could think again.

"Jake? Can you hear me?" she breathed.

_Think_, Crocker, she told herself. He's been stabbed, he's losing blood, you have to act fast. Get it together!

He didn't respond save for a small moan, eyes still closed and face too pale. His heart was beating faster, because it was trying to get blood to his extremities, but it was just making him bleed more. She knew this was how wounds with heavy bleeding worked, knew how they could easily become lethal. It was just the matter of applying that knowledge.

She took a deep breath again, in and out. The hard ball of nervousness in her hadn't receded, but it was pushed back as her rational mind began to come forward, to work again. First of all, she had to get him back inside. Inside, she had cloth, to make bandages, and medicine. Inside she could probably make her magic cooperate again, because inside was familiar and comfortable, which seemed to make using magic easier.

Jake was tall, and Jake was heavy. This was going to be difficult.

Biting back another sob, Jane awkwardly leaned over her arms—still applying pressure to the wound—and kissed his cheek again. "Hang in there, okay? I'll fix this, I promise." And then, she got to work.

* * *

Roxy was lying on her back, sprawled on the couch with one foot propped on the armrest and fingers drumming against the cushions. "What time is it now?"

"It's still the same time it was when you asked me thirty seconds ago," Dirk replied drolly. "They're just running pretty damn late, apparently."

She sighed dramatically, flicking her fingers outward and watching the way the light reflected dully on her nails as she wiggled her fingers before dropping her hand back to the sofa with a thump. "I'm bored."

"No shit. I had no idea."

"Don't make me throw a pillow at you, Dirk." Roxy rolled over onto her stomach, propped up on an elbow, and held up a small embroidered cushion threateningly.

Dirk smirked at her from across the short coffee table on the other sofa. "Bring it on, Lalonde. Your pillows have nothing on my amazing skills."

She narrowed her eyes. "You might think so, but check this out!"

Nothing happened.

Roxy huffed, then laughed. "That was not supposed to not happen. Let me try that again. Check _this _out." This time, she vanished completely from sight, including her pillow. The indention on the couch where she was lying moved as she stood, but the stiff carpet gave less indication of her movement.

"Holy shit! Since when can you turn invisible?" Dirk exclaimed, sitting back in surprise. Out of nowhere, the pillow bopped him on the head. Invisible arms rested on his shoulders from behind, and Roxy blinked into view again, leaning over the back of the couch to smile at him with just a hint—okay, more than a mere hint—of smugness as she ruffled his hair, fading from view again as she did so.

"I don't know. I first did at the rally the other day! It was pretty awesome," she laughed. "Gave poor Jake quite a fright—hey!"

It was Dirk's turn to grin triumphantly, having suddenly twisted around to grab her around the waist—approximately, at least, guided by his guess of where she was standing, which had been accurate enough—and toss her onto the couch, where after a moment of half-visible flailing he pinned her and returned the light smack with the pillow. Roxy returned to full visibility to give him the full view of her pronounced, exaggerated pout as he let her sit up, and then burst into laughter again.

"Like I said," he grinned cockily, "your pillows have nothing on my skills."

"Maybe not right now, but..." her eyes suddenly widened as a thought hit her and she fell to the pillows again, laughing. "Oh my gosh Dirk, just wait until I tell Janey! Imagine the pranks we could pull on you and Jake now."

"I think I would prefer not to," he shook his head. "I'll have to be on my guard then."

"Where are they anyway?" Roxy complained again, shifting so she could lay her head on Dirk's knee. "It's not like them to be this late."

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said dryly. His fingers idly picked up a lock of her dark honey-colored hair and played with it.

They sat quietly for a few minutes, but the silence was shattered by an alarming-sounding _beep, beep, beep_ from Dirk's communicator. He immediately tensed, drawing it out. Roxy sat up, propped on one hand, looking at him.

She filed away the rather creative swears for later use when applicable and touched his shoulder. "Dirk. What's wrong?"

"I don't know but it is not good. Like, really fucking bad."

"What happened?" she frowned.

Dirk took a sharp breath, standing and holding out a hand impatiently. "Something destroyed Lil Seb, because I got a notification saying communications have been interrupted and I specifically built him so that communications circuits were all in the center. They would only be 'interrupted' if he was damaged very very severely. Come on, Lalonde, we're going."

Roxy was on her feet before he'd finished speaking, throwing on her coat and hood. Anxiety thrummed from every movement she made, from bouncing on her feet to the way she bit her lip and looked at the door.

Sword buckled to his side, he led the way through the convoluted tunnels to the lower district exits, but Roxy took the lead in which alleys to duck through and which avenues to take as they all but ran to Jane's apartment.

The building was within sight when a scream rang out in the night, from directly ahead. Neither could decipher the words, but with sinking hearts they recognized the voice.

"Jane," Roxy gasped, and grabbing Dirk's wrist she sprinted down the remainder of the street until she reached the stairwell.

Usually Roxy would complain about having to climb all the stairs to reach the seventh floor. Today, she practically flew up them, Dirk close behind, her heart pounding. Her knife was clutched in her stiff fingers, and as she relentlessly ran, her companion fell behind just slightly.

She rounded the corner, panting, and stopped dead at the sight—right outside Jane's door—of a huge, dark, red puddle of... of...

Dirk appeared just in time to catch her as she swayed, suddenly feeling sick. "Oh my god," she breathed. "Oh no, oh, oh..."

"Roxy," he said sharply, staring at the pool with a hint of distaste on his face but worry dancing in his eyes. Next to it, he saw the remnants of Lil Seb, cleanly sliced in two and now painted in some morbid fashion with ..._someone's_ blood. "Stop it. They probably..." The stoic façade slipped as he swallowed hard. "They probably need our help."

She shuddered, but nodded and squared her shoulders as she straightened and pulled away from him. "Yeah... oh my god, you're right." Stepping forward, she gingerly placed the toe of one boot, then the other as close to the edges of the blood as she could, leaning over to rap on the door. "Jane? Janey?" she called hesitantly.

There was no answer.

"We don't have time for this," Dirk muttered, one second before he kicked in the door.

The trail of blood continued inside, as if something—or someone—had been dragged across the floor. It didn't take much searching to find what; just in the entryway, Jake's limp form lay on the floor, Jane next to him surrounded by the misty glow of her healing magic. Her eyes were closed in tight concentration, her brow furrowed, and her hands pressed tightly to Jake. They were both covered in blood and neither appeared to notice the new arrivals, Jane deep in a trance and Jake apparently unconscious.

Roxy sucked in a breath again, wobbling just for a moment before she smartly turned on her heel and closed the door. No one walking by would see Jane's powers if she had anything to do with it, and thinking tactically like that allowed her to numb herself from what was in front of her, oh god, Jake, Jane—no, that was no help to them.

Dirk was standing in front of her, staring down at them both with a look of shock and horror on his face.

"Dirk," Roxy breathed, pointedly not looking at either of the two on the floor. He didn't respond. "Dirk," she repeated more urgently. He shook his head as if to throw off a fog and slowly turned to her.

"It wasn't supposed to be them that got hurt," he said, a note of bemused regret in his voice, which cracked and _oh god was Dirk Strider about to break down crying in front of her?_

Dropping her own knife to the floor, forgotten, Roxy pulled him into her arms, rubbing his back soothingly. He didn't resist, coming like a docile, lost little lamb seeking comfort. "Hush," she said. "It's not your fault."

He didn't say anything. Roxy figured he was probably blaming himself in his head anyway, and gave him a tight squeeze before she pulled away enough to hold him at arm's length and look him in the eye. "Dirk. It's not your fault," she repeated more emphatically. Somehow, her own shock and grief were easier to bury when she was comforting someone else.

"Now come on," she continued, holding his hands and stroking his knuckles with her thumbs. "I... I don't think we can really help Jane right now, but at least we can have clean bandages ready if she needs them. And we could probably start cleaning up all this..."

"All this blood," he finished hollowly. "Yeah. You're right."

"Dirk," she caught his wrist as he started to turn away. "Are you okay?"

"It doesn't really matter, but I'm fine," he replied. The stoic mask was back in place, and Roxy wondered just how much he had been hurting that she saw it slip to begin with.

"If you say so," she sighed, relinquishing him. It was a blatant lie, but he wasn't about to die from it, so she would let it go until things were closer to a semblance of normal.

Hesitantly, she allowed herself to look at Jane and Jake again. Jane, although smeared liberally in blood herself, didn't seem wounded, which was good at least. Unlike the usual way she healed, which only gave her fingertips the barest hint of a glow, whatever she was currently doing had made her entire body radiant, giving off a cool, clean aura that shimmered around her almost like water. It was probably an illusion, but it was nearly like her hair and clothes were gently floating like they would when immersed. She looked somewhere close to peaceful, until a closer examination that revealed the knit brow and the bitten lip, the dried tears that ran down her face.

Jake, meanwhile... Jake looked awful. His face was pale, his eyes closed in a way that spoke more of pain than of anything near peace, and his breaths were shallow. His green shirt was almost entirely maroon from bloodstains, and his two pistols lay on the floor near the door, in the blood that had been smeared there when Jane pulled him inside, presumably. He looked terrible, and she felt herself aching to try to do anything to help him.

When she tore her gaze from her two friends, Dirk was gone. A quick search revealed him to be in the kitchen, methodically—almost robotically—tearing strips from cloth to make bandages that he placed in a pot of boiling water. "Hey," he greeted shortly, not turning around.

"Hey," she replied softly, wrapping her arms around him from behind and resting her cheek against his shoulder for a moment. He was tense, she could feel it, but his shoulders sagged and he sighed.

"Roxy..."

"Don't sweat it," she assured, kissing his cheek before hugging him more tightly. "We'll work this out. Just... just talk to us, okay? Don't go fret on your own, don't blame yourself. We don't even know what happened!"

He was silent for a moment. "Alright. Fine."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Good," she said in a small voice, withdrawing to take a rag from the cabinet she knew they were in. It would be a hard mess to clean up, both physically and mentally...

* * *

Jane wasn't sure exactly when she became aware of her surroundings again. At some point, the world started to include more than Jake and the blueness that she recognized as her own power. For example, there was the fact that there was not a huge bloody stain on the wooden floor of her apartment, or the fact that her door had a new lock, or the fact that the lights were on, the water was running in the bathroom, and there were foosteps behind her.

Slowly, with that feeling of dread building alongside the mounting confusion, she turned around...

...and saw Roxy Lalonde—where did she come from?—drop the wet towel in her hands to let out a shriek and lunge forward to engulf her in an embrace.

"Jane, Jane, Jane," she repeated with what sounded suspiciously like a swallowed sob in her voice. Her knees were against the hard wood and it was a bit uncomfortable, but she couldn't have cared less.

"Roxy...?" the bemused girl asked, leaning heavily against her companion. Dirk suddenly appeared, presumably summoned by Roxy's scream with his sword already half out of its sheath, but visibly relaxed at the sight he beheld instead.

"Hey, Jane," he greeted with an obviously forced, small smile, yet he hung back and didn't quite approach them.

Roxy, apparently, wasn't having that, because she disentangled herself from Jane to slide her arms around his waist and gently tug him to the place she had been kneeling in a moment prior. Both of them sat on either of Jane's sides as all three of them regarded Jake for a moment.

"I ... I think I patched him up," the dark-haired girl finally broke the silence haltingly. "But I don't know how well, I wish I had bandages..."

"Here," Roxy said with a flicker of a smile as she passed a stack of them to Jane. "We figured you would."

Jane took them wordlessly and just stared at the cloth strips in her hands for a moment. Finally she burst out, "I don't understand, when did you get here, how did you know...?"

Dirk finally spoke. "Lil Seb's communication feed disappeared. So I knew something was up." His voice was low, a bit rough and ragged. Roxy reached around Jane to rub his shoulder soothingly. Had they had some discussion that Jane wasn't aware of?

Either way, she pushed that thought aside in favor of pragmatic concerns. "Can you guys help me hold Jake so I can bind that properly?"

Taking Roxy's knife, she swallowed hard for a moment upon unintentionally recalling the way the light glinted on the edge of the agent's blade before it was driven deep into her friend's body, and then did her best to also push _that _memory aside so she could cut Jake's stained shirt away from him. Ignoring Roxy's soft exclamation and Dirk's sharp intake of breath, she tried to look at his wound like he was any other person, not one of the people she trusted with every ounce of her being and loved with every fiber of her soul.

The flesh looked barely healed, and she worried it might bleed easily, especially if—_when, _when he woke up and started moving around like she knew he would. So she would have to make sure the bandages were on tight enough that they would apply pressure to the wound, but not so tight that they were more painful than they had to be or that they restricted his breathing.

Carefully, she got her friends to hold him so that she could pass the cloth around his body and tie it off, making sure not to meet anyone's eyes and to only stare at the bandages. Finally, it was done. Sitting back on her heels, Jane blew out a breath before leaning on one hand over so she could carefully stroke Jake's hair from his forehead. "I think... I think he'll be okay," she finally said, still stroking his hair.

"Good," Roxy sighed, shoulders slumping in relief. "Janey... what _happened_?"

Jane bit her lip. "I... remember how I thought someone thought I was a mage?" she finally asked quietly. "Two guys from the Mages' College showed up, said they knew there was a healer around here, and when I said it wasn't me they—they stabbed Jake when he tried to protect me, and I, I couldn't—" she broke off abruptly to take a ragged breath, dashing sudden tears from her eyes and suddenly realizing that even though the apartment was much cleaner, she herself was still covered in her own sweat, dried blood, and tears. Jake's blood, to be precise, and that thought was enough to make another sob rise in her throat.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Dirk was the one to pull her close before Roxy did, resting his chin atop her head snugly. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I should have—"

Surprised, she pulled away to look him in the face, her hands still resting on his shoulders. "There's nothing that you should have or could have done, Dirk It wasn't your fault..."

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," Roxy muttered, sitting with Jake's head pillowed in her lap now as she trailed her fingers through his hair. His breathing was more deep and even now, and when she looked back, Jane figured he would probably wake soon. That was one less worry on her mind.

"It was mine," she added quietly. "Do you think he'll forgive me?"

There was a heartbeat of silence. "Jane," Roxy began after exchanging concerned glances with Dirk, "I don't think he'll think there's anything to be forgiven. I already told Dirk he'd better not beat himself up over somehow not being here to protect you guys, and now I'm going to tell you not to beat yourself up over knowing the future. You did what you thought was right. I won't say what's right and wrong, because I definitely do not have the place for that, but I will say one thing. You're a good person, Janey. I don't think he's going to be upset with you. Please don't cry?"

Dirk rubbed her back. "Jake is a lot of things, but he's not an idiot. We don't even know the exact incident that made them suspicious, so we can't say whether it was preventable or not. I'm pretty damn sure he won't hold a thing against you, and you shouldn't blame yourself."

"Neither should you," she retorted, but there was no bite in her voice as she leaned against him, her head resting against his shoulder. Dirk snorted.

"How about this: we all agree that everyone in this room is blameless, and pin the blame squarely on her stupidfaced Condescension?" Roxy proposed.

Jane actually found herself smiling at the remark. "I would be amenable to that."

"Me too. Looks like you got yourself a deal, Lalonde." Dirk ruffled Jane's hair and sat back, his hand resting over hers still.

After a moment, Jane rose. "I'm going to take a bath," she announced. "Oh, and thank you both for... scrubbing all that off. Um, I won't be too long!"

* * *

Later that night found everyone all cleaned and all tired. Three cups of hot chocolate were in various stages of being drunk, and three friends were exhaustedly slumping against each other on the couch.

"What time is it, anyway?" Jane asked, not really directed to anyone in particular.

"Late," Dirk shrugged, flicking his bangs back. "Time for sleeping. Time for not being awake. You know, so fucking late it's probably early."

Roxy chuckled. "He's probs right about that last bit at least," she shrugged. "But hey, at least we finished all this shit off."

"At least," Jane nodded, taking a large gulp of her hot chocolate and setting down the now-emptied mug. After a second, she shakily stood. "Before I fall asleep on you, I'm going to go check on Jake."

In her darkened bedroom, Jake lay quietly. His pulse was steady again, at least, and idly Jane wondered when he was going to wake up. It had been several hours already, what with all the washing and re-ordering of the apartment that had to go on. The dress she'd been wearing had even been scrubbed and hung to dry.

She sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand, stroking his fingers as she watched him and let her mind drift. Once or twice, she caught herself nearly falling asleep and shook herself awake. Sitting in the darkness of the bedroom really was tempting; perhaps she ought to just retire to the couch and go to sleep.

Jane was about to stand and leave the room when Jake's fingers twitched. Startled, she leaned over to see his face—oh, oh, oh, his eyelashes were fluttering, he was opening his eyes, he was waking up!

Jake blinked a few times, looking around the room before his gaze settled on her. Emerald green eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak, but just coughed instead.

"Oh, oh, sorry," she immediately turned to pick up a cup of water set on the bedside table for this very purpose. "You haven't really had much to drink in a while, here." Scooting up so that she could support his back and neck, she helped him to a half-sitting position and held the cup to his lips. A little bit of the water dripped onto his chin, but he drank most of it.

"Jane?" His voice was a bit hoarse and tired, she noted as she smiled tremulously down at him. His head was resting against her collarbone, and she tilted her chin down to press a kiss to his unruly dark hair.

"Yes," she blinked back sudden tears, putting the cup down to gently lower him back onto the pillows and hug him as tightly as she dared. "Yes, it's me."

He attempted to hug her back but winced slightly. This did not escape Jane's notice, and she hurriedly sat back, wagging a stern finger at him.

"You need to rest! Don't move too much, okay? I got really tired, I'm sorry—" she paused here to squeeze his hand between both of hers. "—so I'm going to have to finish healing you tomorrow."

"Are you alright?" he asked, shaking his head slightly as to push all that aside.

She blinked. "I'm fine, Jake." That was just like him, disregarding his own health in favor of making sure she was okay.

"Good." He squeezed her hand and gave her a semblance of the usual roguish grin, which quickly transformed into concern when her eyes watered and she buried her face in her hands. "Jane?"

"I'm sorry," she said in a muffled voice.

"For what?" he asked, bewildered. "Are you sure you're quite alright?"

Jane laughed softly through her unshed tears, wiping her eyes and smiling again before she lay down curled next to him, her arms loosely wrapped about him. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

He turned his head so that his temple rested against her shoulder, about to say something further when Dirk's voice rang out from the sitting room.

"Jane? Everything okay?"

"When did he...?" Jake wondered aloud, not bothering to finish the thought. Jane shook her head.

"Not too long after you ... you went unconscious. Roxy's here too," she replied, raising her voice to call back, "He's awake!"

Immediately there was a thump and the sounds of a minor scuffle. "Roxy, either wake up or get off me," was heard, as well as "Nooo, pillow don't leave me," and a muttered few of Dirk's brand of signature creative oaths. Finally, Dirk appeared in the doorway, trailed by a drowsy Roxy, who immediately brightened upon realizing Jake was indeed alert.

"Good morning," the bedridden boy greeted.

"Fuck you, English, it is not morning," Dirk grumbled in response as he sat on the opposite side of the bed. Softening, he looked over to his friend's face. "Nice to see you conscious."

"Nice to be conscious," Jake replied dryly. Roxy ambled over and squeezed onto the edge of the bed as well, leaning on Jane.

"Hi Jake," she waved lazily. "How are you?"

"Been better," he said cheerfully. "A bit confused, too, and tired.'

"Go to sleep then!" Jane chuckled, stroking his hair. "It is ridiculously late."

"I agree with this statement," Roxy piped up. "Sleep sounds excellent. Close those peepers, Jakey-boy, and I will do the same."

Jake started to laugh, then stiffened, an expression of pain crossing his face. "Don't make me laugh!" he complained. Roxy patted his hand in apology.

"I'm happy you're okay," she added, yawning. "It was a bit worrisome when we walked in."

Dirk snorted. "A bit."

Jake shook his head slightly. "How did you know something was wrong in the first place?"

"The robot," Dirk replied. "Communications shouldn't have been terminated."

"Oh," was all Jake had to say in response. A moment later he sighed and settled back against his pillow. "Not to be rude and cut the party short or anything, but I am awfully knackered..."

"Me too," Roxy gave him a grin. "See you in the morning—oh for fuck's sake is that the beginnings of dawn outside the window?" she frowned at the offending light.

"Oh, hell no," Dirk groaned. "Fuck everything, I'm skipping class tomorrow—_today_." He stood. "Good _morning_, bro. I'm out." And with that, he marched back to the couch.

"That is probably a good idea," Jane agreed after a moment. "We should probably sleep too."

"Yes, yes we should," Roxy concurred. "Good night, Jake." She squeezed his hand again before standing and stretching widely.

"Good night," Jane told him. "Or morning, whichver." Leaning down, she kissed his forehead and stood to join Roxy.

"Well, it'll be an adventure to try and squeeze all of us onto a couch," Roxy laughed as they both started to walk away.

"Just you and Dirk," Jane shook her head. "I have work to go to..." She sighed and ran a hand through her cropped curls.

"Oh no you don't," Roxy countered. "You can call in sick or something today. He's not going anywhere, and neither are you."

"... Good night," Jake called after them, faint amusement coloring his voice. Both paused to laugh slightly.

"Okay, you win, Rox. Good night, Jake," Jane giggled.

"Good _morning_," Roxy corrected.

"Will both of you just get over here and go to sleep already?" Dirk asked tiredly, raising his head from the couch cushions.

"How _are _we all supposed to fit on this thing, anyway?" Roxy wondered, examining the couch.

Jane shrugged and crossed the room first to set aside the empty hot chocolate mugs and then to settle herself on the couch with her head on Dirk's chest, loosely curled. He blinked in surprise but evidently was fine with the arrangement, draping one arm casually around her shoulders.

"That works." Roxy turned off the lamp and wearily plopped onto the couch as well, stretching out along the edge and tugging both Dirk's other arm and one of Jane's around herself before pulling the blanket over all three of them. "Now both of you had better make sure I don't fall off in the middle of the night—er, day," she warned sleepily, already lulled by the warmth of the blanket and her friends and by finally lying down.

"Mmm, we won't," Jane mumbled. Dirk made some noncommittal noise, and Roxy closed her eyes.

For a time, all was peaceful and quiet in the Crocker apartment.

* * *

_AN: Okay I'm so sorry for leaving this hanging so long, I was sick and then a bunch of depression and anxiety left me in no mood to write. Is an approximately 5700 word chapter enough recompense? :o Either way, this is finally here. I'm not too happy with the last section, but it is what it is. _

_If it wasn't clear, Jane had something akin to a panic attack in the first part. She's not trained in magic and just does what 'feels right', so during situations when she is out of her depth she doesn't know how to channel it properly. Basically she has a lot of potential but not much knowledge on how to use that._

_LordPeanut - This is true. I'm just going to be soooo upset if Jade stays dead D: Well, Jane got lucky here and no one died (yet). Hopefully this was close to expectations? :o_

_GoggleHeadOtaku - Hello and welcome to this ridiculous story of mine :) Jake is... Jake is something else. He just never thinks anything through._

_Snowy - Hi there again! Missed you last chapter haha. And no worries, we're all friends here right? I think you summed up Jake as accurately as possible in two words: heroic idiot. That's definitely him in a nutshell._


	13. Chapter 13: Recovery

A scant few hours after that very eventful night, Jane found herself stirring. It was still morning, albeit late morning, and she was absolutely and utterly fatigued beyond measure, but on the other hand there was still work to do. If she hurried, she could still make it to the bakery before it would be too late and she had to work overtime later to make up the wages.

But her body fought all her mind's efforts to actually move. It was so comfortable lying here—seriously, who would have pinned Dirk for a cuddler? Roxy, yes, but not Dirk—and she was so tired, really, it would just be better not to get up.

Finally, she blew out a sigh at the ceiling and gingerly began to shift. Yes, she'd told Roxy she would stay in for the day, but... work was calling, it was important.

"Jaaane," a groggy voice slurred from next to her, as if summoned by the thought. "Don't go anywhere... said you wouldn't..."

"I have to go to work, Rox," she sighed, wondering how she was supposed to get off the couch without waking Dirk, who had wrapped an arm around her and wow, all three of them were a big tangled pile.

"No you don't," Roxy murmured, slinging an arm and leg over her. "Said you weren't."

Jane let out a short little laugh and with only token resistance gave in. "I'll have to work overtime..." she sighed, settling once more beneath the blanket all too happily.

"I'll cover you," came the sleepy response almost immediately.

"I couldn't ask you to—" Jane started, beginning to sit up again in protest. Roxy made a noise of complaint and tugged her back down.

"Shhhh, shush, go to sleep, Janey, it's too early for this."

"But really, Roxy, you don't—"

"Call it paying room and board," Roxy groaned and pressed her face into Dirk's shoulder to block out the light. "Now shush."

"Mmm... kay."

* * *

The next time she awoke was much later, perhaps early-to-mid-afternoon, like an hour or two past midday. Roxy had vanished, presumably to the world of the waking rather than the drowsy lands of dreamers, but Dirk was still there, lying under her with his head against the armrest and one hand resting on her back. He was awake, though, one of his hands idly stroking through her hair and the other holding a book.

She lay still for a moment, just enjoying the lazy feelings, before sighing langorously and shifting, thereby alerting him to the fact that she was awake.

The book shifted and was placed carefully on the floor. Jane tilted her chin up to see Dirk with a small, indulgent smile looking back down at her.

"Good mornin'," he murmured, resting his other hand on her back, near her shoulderblades.

"Good morning," she snuggled into his chest with another little contented sigh. "Where's Roxy?"

Amusement colored his voice. "She's decided to make you breakfast for a change, and my orders are to keep you in bed until it's almost ready."

"She's not setting my kitchen on fire or anything, is she?" Jane giggled, sliding one arm around Dirk's waist.

He smiled down at her, not like the smirk or forced grins she usually saw, but a soft and real smile. It was rare that Dirk let down his walls, even around them all, but she always treasured the moments that he did. "No, I don't think so."

"Oh good. Is Jake awake yet?" Jane could hear Dirk's heartbeat from where she lay in his arms. It was a very peaceful feeling.

"Nah, we checked on him a few minutes ago. Poor guy's out like a light."

"Mmm... well, in that case, I guess I can let you obey your orders with no resistance," she laughed softly, pushing herself up to lean in and press a quick kiss to his cheek before laying down again, head against his chest.

"Glad to hear it," Dirk replied dryly, ruffling her hair. She laughed and tugged his hand down to wrap around her again, and he obliged, tilting his head down to kiss the top of her head.

"You're being quite affectionate this morning," Jane observed, rolling over to look up at him with a smile.

Immediately his fingers stopped idly tapping out rhythms against her back, and he drew back, face warm and brushed with crimson. "I, uh... I'll stop—" he stammered, beginning to withdraw into himself again.

"No, no, you big goofball!" she giggled, reaching up to pat his cheek reassuringly. "I didn't say that. I like cuddly Dirk. Cuddly Dirk is warm and snuggly and makes a good pillow and blanket rolled into one combo."

"That's everything I've ever wanted to hear," he grumbled into her hair as he wrapped his arms around her again. "It's been my life goal to know that I'm a good pillow and blanket combo for Jane Crocker. Shit, it feels amazing to know that I've achieved it."

"Dirk!" Jane laughed, sliding her other arm around his waist as well. "Just sit there and be affectionate, no snark required."

"Snark comes as part of the package deal," he replied drolly before lifting his head to call at the kitchen door. "Yo, Lalonde! How much longer do I have to keep holding her over here?"

"A few more minutes!" Roxy's voice sang from the kitchen. A faint sound of sizzling ... something and clinking plates could be heard, and the scent of something else—was it pancakes?—permeated the air. Apparently Roxy knew her way around a kitchen during breakfast time.

"'Have to'?" Jane repeated with playful indignation in her tone. "You act like it's some sort of burden! Should I be offended, Strider?"

"Well. I guess I don't mind _too_ much," he laughed, shaking his head once to ineffectively toss his bangs from his forehead, and flashed her a quick grin. She chuckled in response and gently brushed the hair aside for him before resting her head against his shoulder once more.

"Good, because neither do I."

* * *

"Glad to see you liked my pancakes, Janey," Roxy laughed as the three of them finished putting the last of the washed dishes away. "Do I pass the kitchen test?"

"I think you've passed the preliminaries with flying colors," Jane laughed as she closed the cabinet above the sink. "The pancakes were quite enjoyable!"

"Oh yeah, bam, look at that, Janey said my pancakes were good," Roxy trilled, tossing the dish towel carelessly behind her onto Dirk's shoulder to grab her friend's hands and twirl the other girl—albeit a little clumsily—around the small kitchen and its third mildly amused occupant in an impromptu dance.

Jane let out a burst of laughter as the two of them spun that turned into a yelp of surprise when Roxy dipped her low, her eyes dancing. "How are you even this energetic?" the smaller girl giggled, clinging to her companion's shoulders.

Roxy laughed brightly and returned Jane to a standing position, though she kept her hands on the other girl's waist in a loose embrace. "I dunno, maybe it's because I'm just happy. This could have been so much worse..." she paused, biting her lip for an instant as her gaze dropped, but then she perked up again. "But it wasn't, and I'm glad!"

"Me too," Jane agreed, suddenly much more somber, though she had a small and soft smile, a bit misty-eyed. "I'm... I'm really glad, especially because you both—" she broke off to sniffle.

"Aww, Janey," Roxy cooed, hugging her. "Don't you cry, I've got you. It's all okay." She reached out and tugged Dirk into her hold as well. All three of them stood together for a moment.

Then Jane extricated herself, a watery but genuine smile back in place on her face. "I... I'm going to go check on Jake," she announced. "There are pancakes left, right?"

"Left, right, left, right," Roxy giggled. "Yeah, I made extra for him."

"Good! I'm hoping to fix up the—the wound, at least a lot more than it is now, and hopefully he'll be able to come sit with us. Unless he still needs rest, I suppose, which he may."

"Do you need any help?" Dirk asked. Roxy gave him a somewhat calculating look, as if trying to read his mind.

"No, I don't think so," Jane shook her head. "You both have already done plenty!" She turned and left the kitchen, crossing the remarkably not-bloody living room to reach her bedroom, where Jake lay snoring away on her bed.

"You know," Roxy remarked behind her, "I'm probably also this energetic because I'm ridiculously tired."

"Go back to sleep," Dirk replied.

"Do I get an unusually affectionate Dirk to snuggle as well?"

Jane laughed at them as she entered the other room, turning her attention to Jake.

"Good morning, you silly boy," she told him fondly as she perched on the bedside, smoothing back his unruly hair with one hand. As expected, there was no response, and for a moment she was conflicted: did she wake him up, or just jump into healing straightaway?

After a few heartbeats, she gently shook his shoulder to rouse him. If he wanted to go back to sleep, it would be fine, but she didn't want to accidentally startle or hurt him so that he jostled himself and made it worse again. "Jake? Rise and shine, it's almost four hours past midday!"

"Must I?" he groaned, cracking an eye open to peer at her without moving any further.

"Well, no, you don't," laughed Jane. "I just wanted to let you know I'm going to try to patch you up some more, so keep still and don't complain at me, okay?"

"Mmm, sounds fine." He opened the other eye, though, and groggily blinked up at her in the dim light. "Thanks, Jane."

"You're very welcome," she smiled back down at him earnestly. "How're you feeling this afternoon?"

"Much improved over last night," came the response.

"I should hope so!" Jane was startled into a laugh. "Alright, here goes."

She carefully began to unwrap the somewhat stained bandages. It had been prudent of Roxy and Dirk to make them—the fabric was smooth linen, she noticed. Roxy must have conjured most of it. They had certainly come in handy, because the wound, while now much shallower than it had been and also much less life-threatening, was still painful and bleeding on occasion, especially when Jake moved too much. She'd never actually tried to heal a directly fatal wound before, so it was hard to judge exactly how much she had to do, but from what she recalled of the more major injuries she had treated, it was best if she didn't quite finish the job and let the body naturally take care of the final few days' worth of healing. In a pinch, magic worked there, but things seemed smoothest when she didn't completely override the body's innate mechanisms.

Closing her eyes, Jane let her mind drift inwards to find the now readily accessible pool of magic that lay within herself, now mostly replenished after the previous night's exploits. It was quite easy to locate and draw from now that she was rested and calm rather than panicked and grieving, and without much difficulty she channeled it into her fingertips as usual and rested them over the damaged flesh. Jake, no longer asleep, was watching, his head propped up on a second pillow, and a look of wonder present on his face that was only occasionally marred by a wince of pain.

The gentle cyan mist soothed that pain, though, and began to knit the tissues together again under Jane's guidance. After a few minutes, perhaps ten or twenty of them, she bowed her head and dismissed the glow. The magic dissipated into the air, and the blue light vanished.

"That's pretty much it," she looked up at him. "Most of the work was done last night, I guess. It's not fully healed, but it shouldn't take more than three days to finish up, so you'll just be a bit sore and painful."

Jake, who knew a little bit of how she applied her craft due to late-night talks in either of their apartments, didn't ask why she didn't heal it completely, and instead just nodded. "Fabulous. Now, on to some other pressing concerns, is there any food in this place? I'm famished!"

The healer next to him laughed. He grinned up at her, because it was always good to see her laugh, especially after he knew she'd been crying most of the past night, and carefully pushed himself into a sitting position. She quickly helped, letting him lean on her when a flicker of pain stabbed him again and his arms buckled.

"Roxy made pancakes," she said as she stroked his hair. "They were very good, and we saved some for you."

"Pancakes. Right."

They made their way to the kitchen, somewhat slowly and with Jane hovering somewhat anxiously to help him if he stumbled a little. Roxy had indeed dozed off, sitting at the table with her head on Dirk's shoulder. He had picked up the book from earlier and was idly thumbing through it when they entered.

Putting the book down, he gently nudged Roxy awake. She blearily sat up, rubbing her eyes, but as soon as she saw Jane and Jake standing in the doorway she beamed, flying across the room to hug Jake.

"Careful!" Jane cautioned, just as Roxy was about to give the poor boy a mighty squeeze.

The blonde paused. "Oh, still not in tippy-top shape? Poor Jakey." She leaned in and hugged him more cautiously, and he smiled broadly as he wrapped an arm around her.

Dirk had walked over in the meantime, standing next to Jane as both of them watched with smiles. When Roxy finally pulled away from Jake, he too gave the taller boy a quick hug. He was about to say something, it seemed, when Roxy let out a little gasp, her mouth forming a small round 'o'.

"The pancakes!" she exclaimed. "You must be hungry, Jakeyboy, go on and sit down, because I made pancakes that passed the Crocker cooking exam."

"So I heard," Jake chuckled.

The remaining three of them waited as Jake ate his pancakes, Roxy nibbling on one herself and finally splitting it with Jane and Dirk. There wasn't much talking, because no one could really think of things to say and each and every person was caught up in his or her own thoughts.

Finally, the last few dishes were washed and dried and put away once more. The four friends retired to the living room, where Jake sprawled on one end of the couch. Dirk sank into the other side with a tired sigh.

Roxy was frowning, her hands on her hips. "It seems so dreary in here," she commented.

"I know," Jane agreed. "I was thinking about that the other day." But paint and decorations were too expensive to even consider. It was more important to keep the flour stocked.

"I have an idea! This might brighten the place up," Roxy plopped to the floor, her brow furrowed in concentration. A moment later, a music player popped into existance, the fancy kind found in the upper districts. She opened her eyes and observed it with glee. "I was a little worried it wouldn't work," she said happily as she picked it up to select a song. "The first few times I tried conjuring technology they didn't always operate properly."

An upbeat but sedately-paced piece began to flow from the speakers. Roxy set it on the table next to the couch.

"You have nice taste in music!" Jake remarked.

Dirk snorted. "You think everyone has good taste in music. Same with movies."

"Well, most music is quite enjoyable, I have found! And nonsense, I have discerning taste in movies. Besides, I haven't even seen that many."

"I _do _have nice taste in music, though," Roxy interjected, sticking her tongue out impudently at Dirk. "Nice, danceable beat, see?" She looked at the floor, positioned her feet, and began to twirl about the room in what was some form of ballroom-style dance with an invisible partner, her movements graceful and fluid with the kind of ease that speaks of years of practice.

"I didn't know you knew classical dance, Roxy," Jane blinked. "At least, not this well."

Roxy laughed as she executed a somewhat complicated-looking foot manuever that turned her body around to face Jane. "Clumsy little me! I guess I forgot to mention it. I started learning a long, looong time ago, 'cause my mom used to dance." She faltered, pausing in her steps for a moment before cheering up again. "C'mere, Janey! Dance with me!"

Jane giggled sheepishly. "I'm not very good at it, you know," she apologized as she rose and placed her hands in Roxy's.

"I'll teach you!" the taller girl beamed. "Okay, left hand on my shoulder, hold my hand with the right. Now, I'm leading, so on the beat we start with my right foot and your left. I go forward and you go back, see—there, yes, you're doing it! And again, other foot, good job!" she encouraged.

A slow and stately waltz was the next song on Roxy's playlist, and she carefully guided Jane through the steps around the room until both were broadly smiling and laughing, Jake cheering them on and Dirk leaning against the couch with his arms folded and a surprisingly open, unguarded expression of fondness on his face.

The cheerful atmosphere despite the terrible events of the night before almost helped them forget that in a mere week would be their next rally, the great march, which—though they didn't know it yet—would be the last one of their campaign as they knew it.

* * *

_AN: Man, this chapter was an absolute pain to write! It took forever until I was satisfied with it, I'm sorry. Also, it was going to be a heck of a lot angstier but the image of Roxy teaching Jane to dance suddenly hit me and I just really wanted that, and it sort of turned everything else cute. Okay! Next chapter will, of course, be the March, which I hopefully will have out within a week or so. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!_

_Edit - by the way, in light of the fact that I keep vanishing on you guys (not abandoning this ever but you know, taking like weeks off!) I made a little tumblr to post updates on the story between chapters when I'm not actively on ffn over here. It's url is adreamingsongbird (wow, how unpredictable)._

_Snowy - Thank you very much :o I didn't think it was that special! I'm really glad it got this response (from both you and Peanut, wow). And, for the most part, I'm a bit better, thank you for asking! c: No prob about last chapter, either, you're fine! Yeah, I went back and reread that wording, oops. I know I caught a few of those while writing this chapter, so let me know if I missed any weird things! _

_LordPeanut - Ahhhh it makes me so happy that you guys liked last chapter so much! I'm also very happy that her panic made sense and was communicable. I just sort of wrote it based on how I felt during panic attacks haha! I'm glad it worked. Okay to be perfectly honest I haven't decided to kill anyone off (yet), because no matter how awful I am I still love them all and don't want to kill them. But...maybe. :P_


	14. Chapter 14: March

_Warning for some violence._

* * *

The day itself dawned a bit chilly and blustery again, like a short relapse into winter during the coming of spring. Jane donned an old dark blue shawl in response, winding it around her shoulders and over her head warmly. Her mask was secure in the satchel at her hip, her spectacles were perched on her nose, and the plan of action thrumming through her mind.

It was not long after sunrise when the four of them convened in the Grand Square, from which the large, elaborate and extravagant palace of Her Imperious Condescension could easily be seen atop the large hill at the center of the city. The sky was still streaked with orange and pink, and the cool light of the sun hung low in the eastern sky, barely clearing the tops of the buildings silhouetted there. A gust of cold wind blew, and Jane pulled her shawl more tightly around herself as Roxy shivered next to her. The actual march wasn't technically supposed to start for a few hours, but... it was much better for them all to be present and ready very early, because there would be people who tried to arrive extremely early as well. Apparently, not many of them were here so close to dawn, however.

"Did you make your coffee this morning?" Jane asked Dirk with a wry smile.

"Obviously he did," Roxy interjected. "He doesn't look so much like either death or murder today."

"You'll have to forgive me, my glasses are not on my face at the moment."

"You're forgiven," Dirk said. "My glasses are on my face at the moment."

"Well yes, I can see that!" Jane laughed, playfully elbowing him in the side. "My vision's not _that _bad, Dirk!"

"Mine might be," Jake said cheerfully with a careless shrug. "It's why it's a good thing I'm not the one wandering around not wearing glasses." Growing serious, he frowned slightly and uncrossed his arms to wag a stern finger at both Jane and Dirk. "Now you both be very careful when this whole thing gets going, okay?"

"Of course we will," Jane soothed.

"This whole thing seems to be going remarkably well," Roxy said ponderingly. Another chill breeze whistled around them, and she pulled her cloak around herself with a shudder. "Do you think it's going too well?"

"_Too _well?" Dirk repeated with a frown. "If you mean that it's been too easy... no, I don't think so." He shook his head slightly, folding his arms.

Roxy looked somewhat unconvinced, but whatever reservations she had, she didn't voice them, instead dropping her gaze and looking across the plaza. "Alright. If you say so."

They fell silent for a few not-quite-tense, yet not-quite-relaxed heartbeats. Jane drew closer to Jake, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders and quite gallantly shared his cloak with her to help block the piercing wind. She cast him a grateful look and then regarded him thoughtfully, one arm slipped around his waist. It had been a few days since the surprise meeting with the Mage's College agents that had ended with him bleeding out in her arms, and now thanks to a good dose of magic he was up and about, perfectly fine again. All the same, she still found herself worrying about him a little more than usual. Perhaps it was because of how close she'd come to losing him?

Either way, Jake remained as cheerily oblivious to her fretting as ever, her dear airheaded friend. He still probably saw it as his duty to protect her, she thought wryly, despite the fact that the College was off her back now. Honestly, the boy could be ridiculous sometimes with his strong sense of chivalry, great love for adventure, and remarkable disregard for his own survival... butshe knew she wouldn't want him any other way.

Her gaze shifted to Roxy, who was winding her long purple scarf around her neck and ears. "It's so lame! I was just thinking it was finally spring for good," she muttered. "And winter had to come prove me wrong."

"At least it's not snowy?" Jake offered in concession, trying to assuage her grudge with the sky.

"Don't say that," the other girl warned. "Or else it might _start _snowing."

"Roxy, the sky is clear and blue," Jane laughed. "It's not going to start snowing." Really, she could be so silly sometimes! But that, too, was part of her charm. Despite her usual lightheartedness and resolutely cheerful nature, Roxy was very smart, very kind, and very loyal. She wasn't without her flaws—everyone had them—but her best always shone through, as it had the entire time Jane had known her, which was a span of several years.

Roxy giggled. "You never know, it might!"

"You are ridiculous," Jane told her with a grin.

"I think that what this ridiculous discussion means is that you're all just too tired and I should have made us _all _coffee," Dirk commented dryly.

"Yes," Roxy informed him, placing one hand on her hip with a playfully impudent jut to her chin, "you should have. I would even drink it black like Jake does right now because I am both tired and cold, and it would be hot caffeine."

"There's a coffeeshop over there...?" Jake suggested, pointing to the corner of the plaza.

Roxy's head whipped around almost comically. "So there is," she affirmed, already beginning to move in its direction. "I'll nip over and get some. Anybody want anything?" she asked over her shoulder as she paused in the act of walking away.

"A hot chocolate, please," Jane requested.

"With a heck of a lot of whipped cream?" Roxy giggled. "Of course! Anyone else?"

"A hot chocolate for me too," Jake asked, beaming at her. "Thanks a million, Roxy."

"I'll be back in a moment!" the scarf-clad girl grinned, walking briskly to the corner to disappear into the store.

While they waited, a small group of five or six people approached in the early morning light, clad in cloaks but with a bright eagerness in their faces rather than the downturned scurrying of most of the few people in the currently-less-than-full square.

"We're here about the march today," one of them said to Dirk and Jane, who quickly eased out from under Jake's cloak to look a little more professional, even if it was colder.

"Excellent," Dirk smiled a little mysterious smile, and she stood next to him with a grin of her own. Jake was beaming, though not without a hint of trepidation.

It had begun.

* * *

Once again, Roxy was on scouting duty. Her ability to become invisible, while still kind of new and weird despite the super-duper-awesome factor, was becoming easier to control and use practically, like she was right now. It was helpful to be under the radar when you were looking for people that you didn't want knowing that you were there.

This time, she and Jake had raided (well, okay, gotten permission to raid) Dirk's supply of communicators and were using them on a separate encrypted and hidden network that she had set up in the area for precisely that purpose today. It would come down in the evening, and with it the traces of their activity, not that there would be many to begin with! But the communicators were an important part of their plan. If and when Roxy saw soldiers, she would immediately start the evacuation by simply calling and notifying Jake before doing her best to lead the unfriendly people on a merry chase in the wrong directions.

The central square was in the oldest part of town, which was also currently the most lavish and luxurious because it was situated on a hill, and of course the illustrious palace of the Batterwitch had to be also situated upon a hill. Of _course_. It was the heart of the Upper Districts of the Imperial City, the rest of which had slowly risen around it... but that meant that the roads here were ridiculously old, deteriorated, and convoluted. What a pain.

Ow!

Speaking of pain... Roxy glared balefully at the rock upon which she had just stubbed her poor, aching toe. It sat innocently upon the cracked pavement, just mocking her with its very presence.

"That is so very not cool," she told it, and then moved on, pausing briefly to rub her wounded foot. She would have to make a mental note that this road was very easy to trip over, more so than the other nearby streets. That was somewhat pertinent information, considering that when one is in the scouting business, speed is of the essence. If there were soldiers around there—or rather, when they showed up in the immediate area, because there was no question of their presence—she would have to hightail it to Dirk and Jane super fast so they could get out in time.

A _bzzz_-ing vibration from the communicator in her pocket alerted her to another notification, probably from Jake again. Roxy smiled to herself amusedly as she checked the device—yep, he was calling.

"Yo, Jakey? What's up?" she greeted, continuing down the empty thoroughfare.

"Nothing much to report here," he replied over the clamoring hubbub of the huge crowd that was probably surrounding or at least right next to him. "Well, nothing much in the bad sense, at least! It's going along _smashingly_, really!" His voice bubbled with enthusiasm, and Roxy grinned.

"Sounds like you're having a nice time," she commented. Here was a fork in the road... should she take the path that the soldiers were more likely to, or the one that they would think would be unwatched?

"Oh, I am," he agreed brightly. "It is quite exciting!" A slight burst of static interrupted his words, but Roxy was able to piece the somewhat garbled message with little difficulty. "How goes it with you?"

"Just empty streets for the most part," she shrugged, biting her lip as she debated the two roads. Oh, fuck it, let's go right. It was closer to the perimeter of the square anyway, at least kind of... what an inconvenience these convoluted streets were!

"Well, that's good. Maybe she'll actually listen to us, then." Roxy pulled the communicator from her ear to stare at it disbelievingly—she could _hear_ Jake beaming broadly with enthusiasm oozing from his every action.

"Maybe," she sighed. Something still seemed off, some strange factor that was niggling at her senses that she just couldn't put her finger on, and it was making her paranoid. But she couldn't let go of the feeling that something was going to go wrong soon. "I don't feel quite that optimistic yet."

"Whyever not?" He seemed bemused.

Here was the frustrating part. Her suspicions weren't based on real, tangible evidence, just a disconcerting sensation like an icy finger running down her spine. It had been hard work to even get to where they were now, there was no denying that—not that she even wanted to—and yet, it seemed like in the past few weeks things had been going too easily for them. The turnout to their rallies and meetings had skyrocketed recently, and soldiers hadn't immediately come to put down these big protests. The only evidence she had was the _absence_ of messy evidence—shouldn't a revolution be messy, by its very nature?—but there was no real way to convince the others using that. Somehow they didn't seem to understand the nature of nothingness and that nothingness itself was a concept that was just as able to affect reality than ... thingness. Which was, by the way, totes a word.

But the annoying thing was that Dirk liked empirical, hard evidence for this sort of thing, and Jane was... well, a cynic, for lack of a better term. And Jake usually went along with majority opinion. They would be impossible to convince of her silly suspicions.

* * *

_(Later, Roxy Lalonde would regret not trying harder to persuade her friends to be wary.)_

* * *

A few hours later, the protest was still underway. An eerie silence was the response from the Empress—which was odd, upon reflection, but just prompted louder yells from the incensed crowd below her palace as they grew more and more confident. Jane and Dirk both stood on elevated platforms, a few meters apart from one another, as they directed the attention and the fervor that swirled around them. Jake stood near the edge of the congested square, watching the proceedings with a big, proud smile between also watching the throng to be sure that exits were unblocked and people were remaining peaceful while Jane and Dirk did their thing.

To be sure, there were some rowdy hooligans in the lot! But overall things were going quite well, quite well.

He rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms, looking up at the sky to try and judge the time. It was getting on towards evening, and part of him was starting to wonder how they were even going to end the protests if there was never a response! Would they have to end them? What if the Batterwitch never actually acknowledged them?

No, no, she would have to. To think otherwise would be preposterous.

In fact, the fact that she hadn't sent any troops or anything yet was probably really, really _good_! She must have been hesitating and nervous because they, the people, were standing up for themselves. There was probably no way at all that this day would end badly.

* * *

(_He would learn just how badly it could end...)_

* * *

Jane, for her part, was ecstatic. On her makeshift stage, made of planks and old crates, she was calling out passionately to the people around her, hands gesturing emphatically as she painted a sweeping picture of a beautiful future that they could have, they _would_ have.

She would make sure of it.

Really, though, if anyone had asked Jane a few months ago what she would have thought of the idea of herself standing on a raised platform at the center of a huge mob of people and talking to them, delivering impassioned speeches and making rousing remarks as they all swirled around in a huge courtyard... well, to say that she would have scoffed would be putting it lightly. And yet, here she was, having—dare she say even, the _time of her life_? Because wow, this was something she never knew she would have such a knack for! Business, yes; being a visible leader of a revolution and being _good _at it, at leading people, maybe not so much.

But it was a wonderful skill and a great feeling, to know that she could do this and that she was doing this, and she was doing it well.

"Away with the Witch's regime!" she screamed, to an answering roar from the people gathered about her.

"Down with the Witch!" they thundered back.

"And up with the people!"

"Up with the people!"

Jane planted her feet firmly again as she looked around, her face flushed with excitement and brow sweaty as she ran a hand through her close-cropped curls. It was hot, and they had been out here for... wow, a long time! Dirk was off that way, giving another of his fiery spiels on the evils of the Witch and her unjust rule for centuries over the people of Skaia.

"We want justice, and we will have it," he was yelling. He was probably itching to make powerful strides around as he spoke, for direction and emphasis, but their little stages were too small for that to really work.

She took a moment to breathe and quickly shot a glance to the sky. The stars were starting to come out as the Sun went down behind the hills; it was strange that she wasn't tired yet. Probably just adrenaline, really.

Maybe they would be here all night. But at least it would help make tomorrow the dawn of a new day.

* * *

_(That day would be a long time in coming.)_

* * *

Roxy sighed as she wearily trudged down _another _street yet again. She'd been patrolling these roads all day, and it was nighttime now!

Her feet hurt and her legs were telling her in no uncertain terms that tomorrow she would be sore as hell from all that walking and climbing over roofs and jumping between them and such.

"I am a _scientist _and a _law student_," she panted. "Not a runner or whatever this is." It was so tiring doing this scouting business, and the strange tang of smoke in the air did not make breathing any easier.

But on the other hand, she was starting to wonder if her misgivings had truly been unfounded. It was still strange that there were no soldiers—very, very strange—but how long was the Batterwitch going to hold off on them? Surely if she was sending them, she would have sent them by now. Unless she was playing the waiting game...

To be frank, Roxy had no idea what game she was playing. None of her actions added up. First she didn't pay any attention to them, and then she cracked down very quickly, and then she waited a little bit before sending in soldiers—but not as many—and now she was going back to ignoring them? What kind of plan was that, now that the movement was so much bigger? Ignoring them wouldn't make them go away.

Maybe she wanted them to just get big heads and do something dumb. But that was a really stupid plan because, well, they could easily just not walk into that trap.

But suddenly those thoughts were the furthest thing from her horror-stricken mind; as soon as she rounded the corner she stopped dead.

_Here_ were the soldiers she had been expecting. And there were a great many of them.

The thing was, they were dead.

A great battle had taken place here. Carnage was strewn about the streets, blood soaked the cobblestones, and corpses lay in various horrifying poses all over the brick. Weapons littered the ground, some in the hands of dead soldiers and some in their bodies. Most of the deceased wore the uniform of the Batterwitch's army, but some of them wore a different one, white and dark green, at least under all the blood. Bullets and burns marred the buildings, a few of which were lit with bright fire.

Roxy turned around and promptly threw up.

"Oh god, oh, oh god," she gasped, conjuring herself a glass of water after a few tries. Gulping it down, she debated also making herself something alcoholic—her nerves might need that. But on the other hand she would probably need a clear head.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, she began to cross the battlefield, following the trail of death. She had to see where it came from, who was killing Batterwitch soldiers.

As she continued, trying her hardest not to look down at the blood forming red, red puddles on the pavement or the broken bodies she was treading around, her unease grew. They were getting close to the back alleys into the main square. In front of her, now, she could finally see the perpetrators, a small force with formidable weapons in their hands or across their backs, ranging from guns to swords to clubs and everything in between. They were dressed in the same dark green and white uniforms from the dead soldiers that she'd seen at the site of the skirmish. It was time to be very careful. Stealthily sneaking up behind them, she listened to what the apparent commanding officer was saying.

As soon as she heard the phrase "attack the protestors", her stomach did an uncomfortable flip again and her heart sank like a stone. With trembling fingers, she fumbled at her pocket to pull out the communicator.

"Jake," she whispered. "We have a big problem."

"What? Speak up, Roxy, I can't hear you!"

Oh no, he was being so, so loud! "Shhh!" she hissed, looking up at the soldiers not too far from her. Two of them were frowning and looking around—please please please let them not have heard her...

If she hadn't edged back to try and put more space between her invisible self and the troops, it never would have happened. But she did, and as she stepped backwards, her foot landed in a patch of blood that had been splattered on the streets, and it was slippery. Roxy's legs came out from under her and she crashed to the ground with a yelp, hitting her head hard on the stone. Pain exploded in the back of her head, and dazed, she lost focus for a moment...

...and became visible.

Immediately there was chaos as the soldiers let out surprised cries that attracted the attention of just about everyone else in the troop. They stared and began to advance as she shakily got back to her feet, feeling a bit dizzy. "Catch her!" one of the officers roared. The troops lunged, but Roxy retreated as fast as she could scramble, risking a glance over her shoulder to see if they were following her. Stumbling over her feet lost her a few seconds as she ducked into another side alley, whipping out the communicator again. "Jake! Are you there?"

She swore under her breath. There was no connection, here between two tall buildings. She had to get out of here so she could warn them!

"I'm pretty sure she went this way," a voice called. Roxy froze, willing herself to become invisible again. A soldier appeared in the mouth of the alley, another one behind him.

"I don't see her," the companion frowned, hefting his broadsword. She eyed it nervously.

"She was invisible or something earlier," the first one reminded. "Let's search the area. Maybe she can teleport too, but if she's just turning invisible, I bet she isn't intangible."

Oh no. She had to get out of here, fast. The back of the alley had a low wall; perhaps she could climb it, which would be so much easier if her head would stop pounding.

Carefully she began to move to the other end of the alley, even as the soldiers started to advance, sweeping the area in front of them with weapons as they walked. Silence was imperative here—how helpful it would be if she could conjure herself a ladder or something, but that would become visible and maybe make a noise as she set it down.

Her head felt quite fuzzy, almost like when she was way too drunk for her own good. At least she had some experience dealing with that weird dizzy feeling, Roxy figured as she deliberately placed one foot in front of the other, her heart in her throat. Thank everything for the uneven bricks of the old wall, they were somewhat climbable.

As she placed her hands on the pieces that jutted out, she slipped again and nearly fell to the pavement once more, just barely catching herself. The soldiers were getting closer, and hurriedly she began to climb as quickly and quietly as she could with her head pounding away and refusing to work properly.

The communicator fell from her pocket and broke with a loud _crack_ on the pavement.

Both soldiers looked up sharply and hastened toward her, weapons at the ready.

There was nothing for it now, she just had to flee! A mad scramble got her over the top of the wall and into the next alley; it wasn't until she was two streets away that it occurred to her that she needed the device to tell Jake to start the evacuation.

* * *

One thing about the construction of the square was that the roads leading to it were notoriously narrow. Often, during the peak of traffic hours, they were congested bottlenecks that took people ridiculously long amounts of time to get through on their way home or to work.

When the platoon of soldiers—minus two—rode in, swords and spears held high and guns at the ready, no one could run very easily.

Screams rapidly began to fill the air as panic swept the mass of tightly-packed people, who began to stampede to try to escape what was surely about to become a massacre. Jake watched in horror as the soldiers methodically cut down any who came near them, Roxy's words from a month ago ringing in his mind again—_"Jake, dearie. We're trying to basically start a war here. People are going to die."_

People were dying, here, now, in front of him.

He had to do something! He couldn't just let them die. Dying was painful and not fun. Death was an awful experience in general, from what he knew of it, having almost died and all.

This thought snapped him out of his horrified reverie. Action! Action was something Jake was good at. "This way, stay calm and move!" he called, springing up to start getting people to evacuate in a safe manner. No one needed to get trampled, and bottlenecks needed to be avoided as best as possible.

Amazingly, they began to listen. A terrified boy clinging to someone who was most likely his older sister ceased his bawling as Jake started to direct them to safety, pointing out the best escape routes. "Stay calm!" he instructed again, using his height as an advantage. "Stay calm, move fast and help each other. We are all on the same team."

He truthfully had no idea why they listened to him, or why he seemed to give them hope by his very presence. But it was working, and he was damned if he would let a single person come to harm if he could help it.

* * *

When it began, Jane immediately started to run toward the wounded before she balked. The soldiers were advancing, and she knew she had to escape despite her healer's instincts that were begging her to help those in pain. Dirk had once mentioned that she was a symbol of something greater than just herself now, and it was true. She had to be the Masked Lady, not just Jane Crocker.

"Oh!" she moaned in consternation, leaping down from the stage after crying "Run!" to those who were still paying her much attention. Where was Dirk? Was he alright? She had seen him still near his own platform a few moments ago.

Buffetted by people running in all directions as she pushed her way to find him, she eventually found the platform deserted. Oh no, where _was _he? He hadn't been hurt, had he? And why had Roxy not warned them? Was she wounded too?

Hoping to catch a glimpse of her friends, Jane hopped onto Dirk's stage to peer around. In the distance, drawing steadily nearer, was the platoon of soldiers that was systematically murdering _everyone_. There was a stream of people fleeing the scene in a surprisingly orderly and cooperative manner—wait, no, no, no, the soldiers were heading there!

And there was Dirk, running in the same direction as best as he could, sword in hand.

What was he doing?!

Her eyes followed his trajectory, and then widened. He was headed to the soldiers, one of the ones with a huge gun to be precise. It was aimed at the stream of people—Jake?! Jake was there! Was this man trying to shoot Jake?

Well, she was not going to have that, and apparently Dirk wasn't either, because as she watched, he decapitated the soldier from behind with one hard slice. Jane cringed, just as a bullet zinged past the air where her head had been a moment ago. With a yelp of surprise and fear she ducked and blended into the crowd again, hurrying to where she had last seen Dirk. He was in the same direction as Jake, so the three of them could regroup and find Roxy and get out of here!

As she neared the fighting, she bit her lip as more and more wounded people streamed past her. It was getting difficult to really approach, as everyone else was trying to get as far away as they could and she had to push through a crowd like she was trying to swim upstream just before a swift waterfall. Many of them were bleeding and she had the urge to stop and heal them, but that... as much as it pained her, that was not the priority.

And suddenly there was a soldier in front of her, his spear raised to strike. The world slowed down as she became acutely aware of her own panicked heartbeat and short breaths, reeling back with nowhere to run. Was this to be how she died?

The tip of a sword appeared through the light leather armor that the man in front of her was clad in, blood beginning to seep out of the wound almost immediately. It gushed like a fountain, just like Jake's had, when the blade was yanked back and the man crumpled to the ground.

"Dirk," she gasped, one hand at her throat in shock.

"Jane. What the hell are you doing over here?" he asked tersely. "Are you hurt?"

"I—I was finding you! I'm fine, let's get out of here—" she interrupted herself with a scream as a club slammed into the side of Dirk's head and a tall soldier, the one wielding it, roughly grabbed him and slung his unconscious body over his armor-clad shoulder. Dirk's sword fell to the ground with a clatter that was strangely loud even in all the noise of the pain and screams, his pointed shades cracked in two and falling next to it.

"_NO!_" Without thinking, Jane flung herself at the soldier, kicking and screaming. She landed a few blows that would probably bruise, and succeeded in making him lose his grip on Dirk for a moment, but only for a moment.

Then the club descended on her, too, and with an explosion of pain everything went black.

* * *

_AN: Oh man, guys, I did not mean to take this long to update, I feel so bad! The next chapter shouldn't take nearly this long, because I've already started on it. It should actually be out really soon, like within a day or two. (Now that I've said that, I will feel more obligated to actually do it.) I am finally back at school for the year, so I will be pretty busy-it's my senior year, and I'm applying to college and all that fun stuff. But I'll try not to take this long again! Sorry about that, again! _

_Question for you now: Should I include ships, and if so, which ones might you readers want to see?_

_LordPeanut - Well thank you, friend! I'm very glad you liked it. Yeah, I would like to not have panic attacks... :c But I'm getting better, I think! Oh gosh, the Sufferer story is suffering in and of itself. D: But yes, I agree. I mean I'm not giving them a break anytime soon, uh... oops. So they don't need to die for this to hurt. Ehehe. (Yeah, I kind of have a thing for cliffhangers, don't I? But yes. Cuddly Dirk. This is a good thing.)_

_Rouge - Hi again! Oh, uh... this wasn't that cute, was it... oh well. I hope you liked it anyway! :)_

_Snowy - Well, here it is, the much-awaited march. I hope I did expectations justice! Gosh you are so sweet though! I am feeling much better right now, thankfully. I hope you've had a good week/month too! _

_Thanks for reading, everyone!_


	15. Chapter 15: Jade - Freed

It was nighttime, and the stars shone coldly above. The crescent moon beamed down like a mocking smile in the sky as it illuminated the winding streets in which four companions tried in vain to hide. Too close for comfort, chasing them, was a division of Imperial drones, red and menacing as they pursued the fleeing friends. One of the four suddenly split off from the rest, seeming to lag; he took off separately, leading the drones in a direction he hoped was away from the others. The remaining three continued, a tall, graceful girl in the lead while a boy holding the hand of another, more petite, haggard and frightened but determined girl followed. Her face was stained with tears and her round glasses dirty and smudged, but she didn't stop running.

They ran through the concrete jungle, hand in hand and hand in hand. The girl could feel her own breaths coming short and panicky as they fled. Around the corner, down the alley, through the building, across the street, don't stop can't stop they'll find you they will hurt you they will hurt _everyone _don't stop go faster _run!_

Desperation tinged her thoughts. She was weak, she was slowing everyone down, but she knew that they would never leave her. She didn't even think of suggesting that they leave her, she didn't want to even entertain the notion of being captured again. How could they escape, though, they _had _to escape because there was no way she was letting any of them get taken, no, no, no!

"_You are outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and outgunned. Stand down!_" the mechanical voice of one of _her_ soldier-drones ordered from close behind them, too close, too close. They didn't see her or her companions yet—the fourth one of them was distracting them, leading them astray—but there was only so much he could do and they were losing ground, they couldn't keep running. Her breath was a sob in her throat, her hand sweaty in her brother's, and starting to slip—

"Jade!" he cried, tugging her forward. "Come on, we can make it!"

She stumbled, crying out, but caught herself and forced herself, keep going, one foot in front of the other, faster faster go go go run, don't be the reason they catch him, not him, her beloved brother. Her lungs burned, her legs ached, her wounds were screaming, but she didn't give them an option. Keep running.

Ahead of them Rose turned down another shadowy alleyway. John turned his head and looked anxiously back at her, and then forward to Rose again. "Do you want me to carry you?" he asked over his shoulder, panting. He was a wind mage, and a strong one; it would have been taxing but not too difficult for him to lift her and fly after Rose instead of running on foot. But she had been adamant about it and no matter how tempting the idea of letting someone else do the work for her was, there was a good reason not to and she would _not _give in.

"No, they—they can detect you—they have some sort of thing," she gasped back. "It gives them the location of a mage. I think." She had only figured it out this vague information after one too many escape attempts; they always knew where she was going whenever she tried to teleport herself away. True, the actual mechanism and its constraints were beyond her knowledge, but she didn't want to risk it just because she couldn't run!

They turned into the shadowed corridor and kept running, even though they couldn't see Rose ahead of them anymore.

Suddenly, a horrifying thought struck her. Dave was out there, being elusive by using his magic to harass them in the style of a guerilla fighter, but if they could track magic... oh no! She had to reach out and find him, scramble the space around him. But she was so, so tired..._ you know you have more power to draw from_—

No no no! It _hurt _and it was _wrong _and it felt wrong and no! She couldn't do it!

In the darkness of the winding alley she felt a hand grab her shoulder, another one grasping John's arm. They were both yanked into a little doorway hidden in the sooty-colored bricks; Rose caught her before she even had a chance to tremble or collapse. John closed the door; there was no light, not even a sliver of the moon. Jade heard a whimper; only a moment later she realized it was hers.

"Shhh, it's okay, I've got you," Rose whispered, leading her away from the door further into the gloom. She settled to the floor leaning against the wall and pulled Jade gently into an embrace; Jade felt John sit carefully on her other side and take her hand again.

It was dark it was so dark she couldn't see she couldn't breathe the darkness was closing in on her again and they would take her and hurt her and it was too dark oh god no—

"Jade, Jade, you're safe, you're with us, nothing will hurt you, and future Dave and future you have covered him for now, so you don't have to worry about him either," Rose's voice murmured softly in her ear. The demons in her mind began to recede. Rose's visions weren't always easy for the other girl to control, but Jade trusted her word completely.

"Are you okay?" John asked, his voice hushed, from her other side. He was still breathing hard from the run—all of them were.

"I—yeah, I think so," she managed shakily. Her head nestled against Rose's shoulder, and John's hand was warm holding hers; Rose's arms encircled her and stroked her hair soothingly, and the sobs of terror that threatened to consume her were melting away into this barely-recalled feeling of safety and warmth.

"Can you find Dave?" he asked gently, almost hesitantly.

"Yeah—I can't bring him straight here though, what should I do?" she tensed in Rose's embrace at the thought of her own helplessness.

John shifted in the dark, seeming bemused. "Why can't you bring him here?"

"I'm scared that _they _can trace my magic," she whispered brokenly, hanging her head. How ridiculous it was that she, now one of the most powerful mages on the planet, was unable to use her abilities to save her friend?

Her brother suddenly leaned over to pull her into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "It's okay, Jade," he murmured. "Do what you can, please, but don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

"When you say trace your magic, do you mean they can find your location when you bring him here, or just that you used it?" Rose asked, her voice indicating the wheels in her mind were already analyzing the problem, turning it over and over to examine it from different angles. It wasn't as if she was being impersonal; her arms still comfortingly held Jade, stroking her back, but her thoughts were ahead of them. The Seer often had her mind in various places.

"If I bring him here I think they can find me." She didn't know for sure how their tracking devices worked—only that the time that they had forced her to use her powers, over and over until she was exhausted and fainted so that they could imprint them into the machines had been excruciating—but there was no way in hell she was risking it, risking all of them. "But I don't really know, I don't know how it works..."

"What if you bring him to the street we turned from? Even if they track that you brought him there, we could potentially be long gone by the time they get here, right?" she asked. "He should've led them away from it by now, so it should be clear. Hang on, I'll go see," she shifted, passing Jade to John, who wrapped himself around her (his rumpled shirt still smelled of _home,_ she thought with a pang) and stood. Light footsteps receded into the darkness, and after a second opened the door a crack. A sliver of moonlight pierced the blackness and Jade drank it in, never removing her eyes from the silvery line on the floor until Rose slipped outside and it vanished again.

She buried her face in John's shoulder and clung to him, trembling. It was too dark, even if she had John and Rose with her, it was too dark too dark _too dark_—

"Jade?"

She let out a little whine in response, unable to find the words to tell him.

John hugged her even more tightly, rocking her back and forth. "It's okay now! You're safe now, Jade, you're with us! I won't let them get you, okay? We've got you, we won't let them hurt you any more!" he promised.

Jade sniffled and nodded against his chest. He seemed to brighten, and she could imagine the cheery grin on his face now—

"Good, okay! See, it's okay, I'm with you, alright? Don't cry!"

The door opened again just a crack, and Jade again stared longingly at the dim but so very bright stream of light that cascaded in as Rose whispered, "Bring him to the corner, Jade!"

She closed the door, and Jade closed her eyes, reaching inwards. Inside of her she could feel her innate magic, pulsing with her heartbeat, bright and green and hotter than the sun—it shouldn't be that hot, not that bright, but _they _had forced it to be, and if she used the new power it _hurt_, it was agony—but she didn't need the extreme new depths of her power, just a little bit, so she dipped into the well just slightly, searched for Dave's red, shifting-like-the-cogs-of-time aura, which she found easily because of his familiarity, and nipped him from the time-space continuum. With a little more concentration she placed him, every last atom of him, onto the street corner. He would be a little disoriented, but at least he would be okay.

Jade withdrew from the pulsating green well of energy and opened her eyes again to see the stiflingly dark room.

Her breathing became shallow and ragged, eyes wide—

"No, no, Jade!" John's whisper soothed. "It's okay, it's okay, you're safe! I promise! I'm with you now!"

"Sorry," she whispered back, trying to quell the queasy anxious roiling sensation in the pit of her stomach. "It's too dark, it's like the cell where they—they—"

"Shhh," he ordered, rubbing her back. "Don't think about it, pretend it's the closet back at home where we would hide to surprise Grandpa when he came home from work."

Surprise flooded through her. That was a happy memory of the dark, she had forgotten those existed. There should be a little hint of cookies baking in the air, the ground should be wood and not stone, and she should be trying to swallow giggles, not tears, but she was still sitting tangled with John in a dark room, waiting for someone to show up.

"You see?" he whispered with just a _hint _of smugness. "It's okay!"

Relief at not feeling the crushing weight of the darkness flooded through her so suddenly it left her giddy, and she was laughing softly now—a watery, weak laugh, but a laugh—and John was probably beaming above her head. Feeling almost triumphant, Jade pushed those awful memories away, locking them into a box deep, deep in her memory, hopefully never to be revisited. She could do this, she was stronger than this, she would make it!

The door opened, and she quickly hushed herself but raised her head to look up—Dave and Rose were entering the abandoned storeroom that would be their hideaway for the night until they figured out somewhere safer to go. She carefully pulled away from John and then bounded across the short distance to wrap her arms around Dave, too, because oh thank _goodness _he hadn't been hurt or worse, captured, he was safe, they were all safe and even if it was dark she had all three of them together and they were all okay, and suddenly she was crying again—when had that happened?—and Dave was holding her close and patting her shoulder and whispering soothing words with just a tinge of exhaustion in his voice, and she just clung to him and blindly reached an arm out for Rose, pulling her close too, and somehow John figured out that he was wanted too and made his way over from the corner, and Jade had all of her remaining family with her again, and she was happy.

"You okay, Jade?" Dave asked after a few minutes, when she had quieted to just the occasional sniffle but still was holding herself to them all as tightly as they could.

"Yeah," she said, and even though it was dark she was smiling, a tremulous and teary smile but definitely a smile. "Better than okay. Better than I've been in a while, actually."

"Good," he replied after a second. "We were worried."

Rose snorted somewhere to her left. Jade leaned her head on her shoulder. "Worried doesn't even begin to cover it," she commented.

They meant well, to joke and tease and lighten the mood, but as they bantered back and forth Jade fell silent; they were reminding her that she'd been places she didn't want to be and oh no the darkness was getting to her again she couldn't breathe it was too dark why was there no light were they coming to hurt her again oh no please no make the thoughts go away—

"Jade?" John's hand was cupping her cheek, his thumb wiping away one of the tears that had begun falling again.

"Can we—can we please not talk about the last two months?" she asked in a small voice, hearing a dull roaring in her ears. But that was all it took; immediately they dropped the topic and instead went back to holding her and soothing her and somehow, nearly an hour later when the adrenaline from fleeing _them _ had drained away and instead all four of them were in an exhausted heap on the floor, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, content to lie next to the three people she loved and trusted more than anyone else in the world.

* * *

She woke an hour or two later, frozen in terror and having to swallow a scream rising in her throat. It came out as a soft, strangled sob that made her pull away from the warm bodies lying on either side of her to wrap her arms around her knees and rock back and forth, whimpering softly with the effort not to break down so as not to wake her friends, who she knew needed their rest after the stunt they'd just pulled to bring her here.

There was a movement in the darkness and she froze again, biting her lip as rational thought warred with instinctive fear and the memories of pain.

"Jade?"

It was just Dave, his voice rough from sleep and tinged with concern. A victory, then, for rational thought.

Jade let out a shaky, breathy laugh through her tears. "Yeah, it's me," she said.

There were more sounds of movement, and when he next spoke he was closer to her, close enough that if she wanted to she could have touched him if she just shifted over a few inches.

"Nightmare?" he asked.

Another shaky laugh. How absurd nightmares were, rational thought said. She was free and safe now. "Yeah, sorry to wake you."

There was a pause, then hurriedly he said, "Nah, no problem. I'm here for you, if you want to talk about it." She guessed he had tried to dismissively shake his head but then remembered that she couldn't see him, and almost giggled at the thought, about to reply when his voice came again: "Is this your hand?"

"No?" she blinked.

"Well shit."

She did actually let out a soft laugh then, a genuine one rather than a forced giggle that was just the remnants of hysterics. A soft touch alighted on her elbow, then slid down her arm to her hand, still wrapped around her knees which were pressed to her chest in a defensive posture, and gently tugged her fingers free so that Dave could hold them instead. "I'm assuming this one is."

Jade smiled to the inky blackness, relaxing her body from the curled position, and with her free hand she traced his arm lightly to find him, and scooted over the dusty stones to lean against him, her head nestled in the crook of his neck.

After a moment of seeming surprise, he wrapped his other arm around her snugly, and tugged his cloak over them both before taking her hand again. She made a little sound of contentment, and he chuckled quietly. "Comfy?"

A hum of agreement was her only reply for several seconds—somehow the depth of the dark was a bit less terrifying if you could feel someone's heart beating under your hand, she thought. The quiet was less deafening, too.

Finally, Jade said quietly, "You kept your promise, see?"

Dave stilled almost completely. (His heartbeat pounded a little harder, she noted.)

"It took too long," he said finally. "And that promise really could have been better..." he trailed off.

"Better?" she asked quietly. "You mean you could have promised you'd get me out before I became a broken mess? Like this?" It wasn't resentment or hurt feelings in her voice, just acceptance and a bit of sorrow, a little regret.

Almost immediately he shook his head vehemently, turning to face her as best as he could in the darkness and releasing her hand to find her face, to cup her chin and to wipe away the tears. "You're not a broken mess."

"I'm certainly more broken and more messy than—"

"No, you're still Jade, and yeah you're hurt and confused and god I hate seeing you like this but given the circumstances I'd say it's pretty damn understandable, but you're still our Jade and all three of us don't love you any less, and no, you're not being some sort of a burden, and don't you ever think that, you hear me?"

A lump was rising in her throat again—gods, could she never stop crying? She'd have thought she'd run out of tears by now—but at least this time it was a happier one. With a sniffle she hugged Dave tightly, holding on for several long seconds as she snuggled into him, her head under his chin.

"That's not to say I don't wish we'd gotten to you sooner," he started again thoughtfully as he stroked her hair. "I wish I'd been able to spare you all—all _this_. But I can't go back, because I haven't already, so if I did I would screw up the timeline."

"It's okay," Jade murmured, pulling the edge of his cloak over herself until it was tucked under her chin and closing her eyes again. "You kept your promise, I'm with you guys now, see? I'm safe and they can't hurt me anymore, and they won't hurt any of you either." The words seemed half to Dave and half to convince herself.

"Yeah, you're safe now, and they can't hurt you. Remember that, Harley." Dave settled into a more comfortable position, leaning against the wall and making sure to keep her still held snugly in his embrace. Jade hummed in agreement.

"Dave?" she asked after a few moments.

"What?"

"Can you sing for me? Please?" He had a gorgeous voice, and a lullaby would definitely be soothing. Plus, Dave hadn't really sung much since they'd been on the run, even though she knew he enjoyed it. Rose had once told her that he had thought about pursuing a career in music before... well, before everything happened. She loved when he sang.

He was silent for a moment again, though this time was probably to give her an are-you-serious look before remembering she still couldn't see his face. "Right now?"

"... Yes?"

"Dammit, you're giving me that sad-puppy look aren't you," he grumbled. "I can't even see you right now but I know you're doing it, and so I can tell what you look like and seriously, Harley, how the hell do you make your sad puppy look work when I can't even see you?"

Jade giggled slightly. "Please?"

"Ah, fine. Just go to sleep soon, okay? We both need to."

She nodded against his chest. "I'll fall asleep more easily with a lullaby, and when I'm asleep you can sleep too." _Unless I wake up with nightmares again—no, don't think like that. Think positive thoughts!_

"Damn, can't argue with that logic," he joked, his fingers starting to idly play with her hair once more. It was soothing, and calmed the turbulent thoughts that had for a moment threatened to return. A moment afterwards, he began to croon a sweet, soft tune, and Jade smiled, closing her eyes, hopefully to sleep in peace the rest of the night.

* * *

_AN: About 24 hours later, here's the next chapter, as promised! Rougeofdoom, earlier you were wondering about Jade. This one's for you! _

_Alright, I realize it is probably jumbled and confusing. That was the intention. Jade's just gone through some kind of traumatic experience, which you'll find out more about as the beta kids' arc progresses. Since this chapter is from her perspective and her thoughts are erratic and incoherent for now, so is the writing and the perception of events. More to come on this later, but any questions are totally welcome!_

_Snowy - Thank you very much! I'm really glad my characterisation is good; I have versions of these characters that live in my head, but I do worry that they might be too far removed from canon sometimes. So thank you for the reassurance! And... well, here's the update, though I didn't resolve that cliffhanger yet haha. No, no, that would not be too presumptuous, although there is a slight twist that will be revealed at a later date. Re - ships, that's honestly what I was thinking a bit upon reflection. I might write shippy AUs to this verse, but I think I'll let everyone remain friends for this fic. Thanks again! :)_

_Thanks for reading, everyone!_


	16. Chapter 16: Roxy - Ends and Beginnings

Roxy stumbled as she walked back to her apartment. There had been enough commotion to tell her that she had failed, that the march had been a disaster and the soldiers had gotten to them before she could. "I wonder what Dirk will have to say at the next meeting," she mumbled to herself. "I told him things were weird... I wonder who the green guys were."

Ugh, but her head was still hurting from when she'd fallen and whacked it against the cobblestone road. Stupid patch of blood, it just had to be there. If someone hadn't bled there, none of this would have happened.

No, no, that wasn't right... it was her fault, really. She had been the one who stepped in the puddle of blood. Ew, there was dried blood on her shoe, ew ew ew! That was disgusting, blood belonged in people's bodies and not on her shoes, ew. But that was getting sidetracked. "But who were those green guys?" she asked the building to her left, which quite rudely didn't respond. "I've never seen a green army."

Were they a new elite regiment? But wait, no, they'd killed the Condensce's soldiers. And they weren't on the protestors' side, considering they'd been the ones who attacked the march and all. Were they a strange third party that was on no one's side? It would at least seem so, but who could they be?

Man, these questions were too big for someone with as big a headache and as much exhaustion as she had. No thank you, Roxy could happily forgo such pressing thoughts for now.

Come to think of it, going home was a long, long walk. That was way too far away. Plus, walking through the upper districts with a bloody shoe would look weird, right? Staying invisible was too much effort when she was this tired. She was pretty close to the lower districts, though. Maybe she could just go crash at Jane's? Wait, now that she looked around, she was much closer to Jake's apartment.

"I really hope he has a pillow and blanket. I will be happy," she told the pavement. It too didn't reply. But she already knew the pavement was unkind, considering that it was the reason she had this pounding headache.

Trudging onwards into the night, she passed a group of ...unsavory characters, shall we say, on her right. Curiously, they only gave her a cursory glance rather than descending on her like a pack of wolves might a wounded fawn. Maybe it was an aspect of her invisibility, just to be unnoticed? It would at least explain her luck in scoring a boyfriend, she thought with a snort.

Either way, Roxy continued walking, casting them a wary look with her hand ready to lunge for her boot to grab her knife if need be, but in this condition she knew it was wiser to flee than to fight. Sparing a moment of pity for any other pour soul trying to walk around out here, she picked up her pace as best as she could and looked for the familiar façade of Jake's apartment building. It was surely around here somewhere...

...Ah, there it was! Hopefully he was awake. Well, he probably would have just arrived, not too long before she had. In fact, if she hadn't had to cross the square and the surrounding streets, since she had been patrolling on the opposite side when the attack came, she quite possibly could have arrived to his home before he had!

Up, up, up the stairs. Stairs were sooo annoying. Why couldn't he just live on second floor or something?

And now, knock knock. "Jakey, open up," she sighed, slouching against the door. Damn, she was too tired to giggle and make silly noises and nicknames! That was probably a new low.

Thank the _stars_, she could hear him coming to the door. And now he was opening the latches... oh wait shit she was still leaning on the door—

"Oof!" Jake stumbled back, having caught her quite bodily. "Roxy? Oh, I'm so relieved! Are you okay?"

Kicking the door shut with the back of her heel, she straightened and nodded, giving him the closest thing to her usual electric grin as she could get in her exhausted state. "Head hurts, super tired, but I'm okay." The smile faded as she recalled again in vivid detail the things she'd seen, and the things she'd overheard, and... "Are you?"

Now that she stepped back and looked at him, _really _looked at him, he didn't look that great. Overworked and drained, yes, that was to be expected, but there were tearstains on his cheeks and bloodstains on his clothes, his glasses had gained new scratches, and the way he carried himself spoke volumes about how he was feeling—namely, sad and angry and upset. He didn't look very okay. "You... you're not hurt, are you?" she asked softly, hands hovering over his shoulders as if she wasn't sure whether she could touch him or not.

"I—no, no, I'm not hurt," Jake shook his head. Roxy flung her arms around him and held him tightly, letting out a shaky breath as she did. He held her just as desperately, long enough that she suspected he was dangerously close to tears again. Well, so was she, and she didn't plan on letting go of him anytime soon.

"Where... where were you? I was so, so worried," he mumbled into her hair. Judging by the sound of his voice, her suspicions were right and he was about to cry again. "I tried to call you but you never picked up..."

"I know, I know," she soothed. "I'm so sorry, I ran into that troop of soldiers before they came to attack you guys and, well, they saw me for a moment, and when I was running away I lost my communicator before I could warn you. I'm so sorry, Jake, oh my gosh, I'm sorry."

"You ran into them?" he asked, stunned enough to pull back to look her in the eye incredulously. "Are you sure you're alright? They—they were terrible brutal bastards!"

Oh no, her worst fears were being confirmed. Had the march turned into a massacre? "I hit my head," she admitted. "I slipped on a patch of blood on the street and I hit my head when I fell, and that's when they saw me... it really hurts," she moaned, resting her forehead against his shoulder. "What... what happened at the march?"

It may or may not have been intentional, but Jake disregarded the final question. "It still hurts, even though it's been a few hours? Are you seeing double, feeling fuzzy in the head, the like?"

"Mm... yeah, kind of. Having trouble walking straight, actually. I feel like I'm drunk with a hangover already," she giggled. If the laughter sounded forced, neither of them commented.

"You might have a concussion," he furrowed his brow with concern. "Jane once told me that the best way to get over one of those nasty blighters is bed rest, but you have to wake up every few hours so you don't just not wake up ever. And you should probably just take a break from classes for a while, just to be on the safe side."

"Okay, will do. A bed sounds really nice right now, actually. But... Jake. What—what happened?" He couldn't hide it from her forever. She'd heard screams, seen flames licking at the roofs of buildings, set so that no one could hide inside—a cruel tactic—and then, she'd been too terrified to go into the square. She was a coward... at least she wasn't ashamed to admit it.

He stiffened, wiping at his eyes angrily. "So many people were hurt, Roxy, so many of them died. Those—those Imperial sons of bitches!"

Oh no, oh no. Roxy felt her breath catch in her throat, heard her voice tremble as she slowly lifted her head from his shoulder to look up at him, her hands sliding to hold his. "They—it was a massacre?"

Jake nodded furiously, squeezing her hands hard. "They just rode in and started killing people left and right."

To think, lives might have been saved if she had just watched her steps, if she had just kept a tighter hold on the communicator—! Actual lives, of living, breathing people, who were no longer that, and it was her fault. She had been part of the central four of them, but even more so it was _her _fault for not being careful enough. And now so many people had to pay the price for her own laziness and stupidity!

Blinking back her own tears, Roxy yanked herself away from Jake, stumbling back a few steps until she could lean against the wall. Once her back touched it, her knees gave way and she slid to the floor, shaking with wide, guilt-ridden eyes and her hands covering her mouth.

"Roxy?"

Jake was kneeling next to her, his words impossibly gentle and his face radiating concern. "Are you—what's wrong?"

At least he knew better than to even ask if she was alright. "It's—it's my fault," she stammered, shock still washing over her in waves.

Almost immediately, he pulled her close again. "That is the most preposterous thing you have ever told me. And you have told me some very preposterous things, I'll have you know."

Strangely, the shock and terrible guilt began to recede as soon as he said it, replaced by a warm, golden feeling that settled into her stomach in the same place the dread had been. Roxy trembled and hugged him close. "How... how are you holding up?" Jake was the one who had been petrified at the thought of people dying to begin with, and now he was the one comforting her at that same notion. How ironic was that? Dirk would get a kick out of that, she thought woozily. Wait. Dirk, and Jane? Where were they? Were they alright? Hmm... most likely they were. They got out every time before with no problem. In fact, they probably just went to Jane's place, or maybe Dirk's little robot-strewn apartment.

He was quiet for a heartbeat, which gave her pause. Jake usually never had to stop for recollection. It was true, he was more affected by this than he was letting on. Did he think he had to just take care of her, and not let her take care of him? Because if so, he had another think coming.

"I... could be better," he finally admitted. Roxy just waited. If he was holding back something, well, he was going to spit it out sooner or later, and responding with silence was the best way to get him to say it sooner. And of course, the dam broke at last. Jake let out a sob and pulled her in close, burying his face in her hair. It made her head hurt a little more, but she wouldn't have said that for the world.

Instead, she held him tightly, rubbing his back in large, slow circles and humming some song that she couldn't quite remember. It was okay to cry, it was sometimes therapeutic to cry, so there was no shushing of his tears or any "don't cry, don't cry"; instead she just whispered "it'll be okay" and "love you, Jake" as she held him.

Roxy knew he'd seen death before, but it was very different to be a witness to a workplace accident versus a massacre at a protest. Jake probably was blaming himself, too, just like she was. What a fine pair they made.

He cried for several minutes, both of them awkwardly sitting on the floor and holding onto each other in the warm light of the candles set around the room. Roxy was feeling the weight of every single minute she'd spent roving the streets settle in on her eyelids, but there was no way she was going to just get up and go to bed with Jake in this state; nonetheless she was quite relieved when his sobs started to turn into sniffles and eventually subsided completely. Several heartbeats passed before either of them moved, Jake because he was in that fragile state that one often feels when he has cried himself out but still feels the grief that caused him to cry in the first place, and Roxy because she was simply too tired to want to move.

Eventually, she shifted, touching his cheek to bring his gaze to meet hers. "Better?"

He sniffed once and scrubbed at his eyes. "Yes."

"Good," she hugged him again. "Let's get cleaned up and then sleep, hm?"

"Yes," he agreed again. As she sighed and started to rise, though, he caught her wrist. "Roxy?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm glad you came."

* * *

Over the next few days, for some strange reason, Jane and Dirk were both almost always busy. Roxy couldn't figure out what was suddenly occupying all of their time. After spending the rest of the week with Jake, as per his instructions—"I think you have a concussion, and from what Jane told me, I know you need to get a lot of rest and not do things that make you think too much!" he had insisted—she had returned to the university to receive a truly ridiculous mound of make-up work. Ha, as if she could deal with that on top of everything else.

Roxy eyed her calculus assignment with distaste. "I'm in law with a little biology on the side!" she complained to her nearest classmate, a troll girl named Herryn. "Why do I need to do this crap?"

Herryn smiled, brushing back her thick hair with one hand and hefting a stack of textbooks with the other. "I couldn't tell you. Perhaps because it is a required course for the science disciplines."

The other girl blew out a breath in exasperation. "It takes so long, and I don't like it," she huffed.

The troll laughed. "Find a friend who likes it? I would offer, but I have no idea what we're doing. I'm going to office hours later, though, because you know, I must keep up the scholarship!"

Trolls were somewhat rare on Skaia, even here in the Imperial City. Most of them left long ago, when the Batterwitch seized power in a coup hundreds of years ago. (Curse her longevity!) Now, they were spread throughout the nearby planets and star systems—most lived on Alternia and Beforus, two planets one system over, but some stayed nearby, in the Dual Monarchy of Prospit and Derse. The Batterwitch was said to be even more vicious to her own species than she was to humans, for whatever reason. Perhaps because she feared being overthrown?

Well. She wasn't wrong to, at least.

The few trolls in the university here were from Prospit-Derse, and almost none of them had plans to stay past school. The Imperial College was prestigious to be sure, but Skaia itself was not exactly friendly to anyone. Herryn was one of these trolls, here to study and then hightail it offworld.

"I have a friend who likes math," Roxy nodded. "I guess I'll call him. See you later, Herryn!"

As she walked away, she dug out her communicator from her purse, pressing the speed-dial button that would connect her to Dirk. It rang several times before redirecting to his answering machine, which was actually one of his more recent programming projects—a Dirk Strider auto-responder.

"Why hello, Roxy," the AR said. "I assume you're calling me because you want to get help on calculus homework?"

She giggled, walking out of the building to sit down on the edge of the fountain. It was a wide, stone brim that was comfortably warm in the afternoon sun. "Of course, you're right as always. And this time, I have something to offer in trade! Tell Dirk when he gets home—wherever he is, why is he even out right now? He doesn't have class for the next half an hour!—But tell him that I'll help him with the project for History and Government." The class itself was honestly kind of a joke, considering how much censorship the Witch enforced everywhere, but it was still part of the core of mandatory classes that everyone had to take. Dirk hated it with a passion and had boycotted finals one time. It had taken all of her charm—and the fact that he was lucky that he was friends with that professor's favorite student—to get the professor to let him pass.

"When he gets home?" AR echoed. "My dear Roxy, it seems you are unaware that Dirk hasn't been home in over a week."

"What?" She must have misheard. He was busy enough that he didn't answer the door, but where would he have been?

The auto-responder's voice, so uncannily similar to Dirk's, was calm and cool as he repeated, "I said, Dirk hasn't been home in over a week. Thirteen days, to be precise, so almost two weeks. You know, since the day of your big march."

Though this time was from shock and horror rather than pure accident, it was the second communicator she'd dropped in thirteen days.

* * *

A throbbing headache was the first sensation Jane was aware of. The second was that the floor she was lying on was cold, hard, rough stone that was as far from comfortable as it could get, and her body ached from slumping against it for what had probably been hours, judging by the dull pain. The third was that opening her eyes made her head throb even harder.

The fourth was that it was dim, the only light streaming in from bars on the door at the top of a small flight of stairs in the corner.

"Oh no," she breathed, pushing herself up on one hand as the other gingerly probed the back of her head. Her hair was matted with blood and touching the area hurt, so she quickly let it be.

The walls were stony and silent. The room was bare save for a chamber pot in another corner.

Realization began to dawn on her with unpleasant speed. "Oh no, oh no, oh _no_..."

Jane was in the dungeons of the Empress.

* * *

_AN: Whoop whoop, guys, I'm on a roll! Here we go, Roxy and Jake taking a bigger role. Man, I love writing Roxy. Anyway, how this is going to work for a little bit is alternating POV in chapters. So the next one you won't be seeing much of Roxy and Jake. Maybe I'll have it out soon! I wrote this whole one up today, shockingly. _

_Also, I'm feeling magnanimous today, so __whoever reviews this chapter between now and whenever I get the next one out gets a short fic-request__ for whatever you'd like in this verse, or in an AU of your choosing, or even canonverse if you really want that! I'd prefer it to be the kids because I write them more easily, though. Also wink wink ask me things about this universe :D_

_GoggleHeadOtaku - Hello again! Yep, the Beta Kids have officially arrived. I hope you enjoy what shenanigans they will get up to in chapters to come!_

_Snowy - Surprise, another quick update! I'm shocked myself. Well, gee, thank you so much! :D I guess it just takes practice; I wasn't too comfortable with them when I first started writing this fic, but they've grown and gained personality. Dirk in particular gave me trouble, which is why he didn't do anything for a while, haha. The beta kids' story arc is one I'm super super super excited to write! It's going to be told in limited perspective, so a lot of it will keep you guessing for a while until a certain point, when they'll sit down and reflect for a bit. I'm taking them in from pretty much the end of an adventure already and putting them in this new one. Later, once this story is wrapped up, I'm going to write one about them and how they got to where they were in the last chapter._

_LordPeanut - Hi again friend! I was just wondering where you might have been. I'm glad everything's okay and it was just internet problems, hehe! Oh man, yeah, that march was nothing short of a disaster. Hint hint - who's main thematic colors are green and white? ) I'm glad that the beta kids chapter got such a good reception, I was a little leery of putting something so fragmented out. I'm happy you liked it though! They have a super cool story arc that I've been planning since the inception of this story in general. Regarding ships, yeah, I think I'll just leave them out. Thanks for the feedback!_

_And as always, thank you to all my readers and reviewers._


	17. Chapter 17: Jade - Hunted

In the morning, Jade woke to see John gently shaking her, illuminated faintly by the bright sunlight coming in around the door and dusty window, while Rose looked on with a small secretive smile from behind him, where she was packing their meager supplies. Dave was still asleep, his cheek resting against her head and his arms wrapped around her.

"Good morning, Jade!" John greeted with a grin.

"How are you?" Rose questioned softly.

She considered the question carefully. How was she? Well, the overwhelming feeling of being crushed in darkness had (at least temporarily) gone for the most part, and while she still felt fragile and breakable and messy and not at all like she wanted to be, she felt much closer to her old self than she had been last night. It was a new day, the sun was shining and it was _not _dark outside or inside, and she was going to be okay. "I feel... not fine, but better," she smiled back, a small one but a genuine smile nonetheless. "I think I'm going to have to assign someone to cuddle duty every night, though."

"That can be arranged," her brother beamed down at her. "But for now, we have to go, so get up!" Standing, he walked back over to Rose to help her finish tying all the extra clothes and food into an easy-to-carry bundle.

His enthusiasm was contagious, as always. Jade giggled and lifted her head carefully, shifting in Dave's loose hold so that she could nudge him gently. "Dave? Dave, wake up! It's morning."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up," he muttered, cracking open one eye, then the other. The usually impassive, nearly stern expression on his face was softer as he looked at her in the dim light. "You okay, Jade?"

A rush of affection for her friends and for her brother zinged through her. The first thing they did was check to make sure she was alright! It was the little things that told her they loved her, just as loud and clearly as the big things like breaking her out of the primary Imperial mages' prison. Jade hugged him, laughing quietly when he stiffened in surprise before hugging her back. "I'm getting there," she smiled as she pulled back, her hands still linked behind his neck. "Thank you, Dave."

"For what?" He seemed genuinely bemused, and she laughed again.

"For being you, and for yesterday."

"Oh. Well, I guess I am a pretty cool dude, right?"

It was their old banter routine, from years ago when the world was simpler. Jade grinned and easily supplied the rejoinder, "The coolest!"

Dave turned serious for a moment. "But really. There's nothing that any of us wouldn't do for you. Now come on, we should get going."

With a sigh, Jade stood, walking over to John and Rose, standing near the window and going through their bags of supplies, to slide her arms around the taller girl's waist. Rose seemed to understand that she just wanted physical reassurance and wrapped an arm around her, smiling. "Good morning, Jade," she said.

"Hi," Jade replied. "Where are we going today?" It was weird. In the past, she might have asked "Also, where are we right now?", but now, since her powers were so amplified, she just... _knew_. There was really no question. It was as if she had some newfound connection to Space itself, which would be cool except for the price she paid to gain it. The past month hurt too much for her new passive abilities to really be something she could enjoy. And using the active ones _still _hurt.

"We will stay in this little city for just as long as it takes stock up, so perhaps an hour or two, and then it's back to the life on the run with us, to the woods outside town and then wherever it takes us from there," Rose sighed. "We'll probably have to be even more careful than before..."

A bit of despair descended upon Jade. They'd been trying as hard as they could to avoid the Empress's legions beforehand, and they'd still been caught. Well, she'd been caught. The rest of them had gotten to safety. But now they had to be even more careful? How could they do that? There was basically nowhere to hide on this planet, her drones were _everywhere_. And now Jade couldn't even use her magic, for fear of calling them to her! This was hopeless.

As if sensing her sudden despondence, John bounded over to give both her and Rose a big squeeze, eliciting surprised laughter from them both. When they all pulled apart, Rose gave everyone a cursory look, her eyes lingering on Jade. One of her elegant hands reached up, fingering a few of the dark locks on the other girl's shoulder. They were messily shorn to not long past her shoulders, and rather tangled to boot.

"Do you mind if I cut it?" Rose asked. "No offense, but you kind of do look like you're on the run right now, which isn't exactly what we want."

Jade only hesitated a moment. "No, go ahead. I know it's a mess, and that usually attracts negative attention," she said with a self-depreciating laugh and half-shrug. The last time someone had cut her hair had been a little over two years ago, when Nanna had done it so gently and told her how beautiful she was. Ever since then, she'd grown it out—it had reached down to her hips—until recently.

"Your hair was so long earlier," John said as if noticing for the first time. Knowing him, it was totally possible that he hadn't really noticed previously. "What happened?"

Rose shot him a warning look, but the question slipped out before he realized that they'd agreed to not talk about the previous month's events until Jade was ready. He immediately tried to backtrack, shaking his head quickly. "I mean, sorry, you don't have to answer that, sorry Jade—"

"It's okay," she smiled, but there was no happiness there. It was more of a sad, melancholic reassurance that she truly didn't mind the question. "It was in the first few days, when I didn't know just how awful they were. Because, you know, they're really nice to you as long as you do exactly what they want and—anyway. I asked for a hairbrush because it was tangled and messy. They cut my hair instead."

The memory was still vivid; the incredulous stares of the guards before they burst into raucous, frightening laughter, the rough hands grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to her knees and tugging her hair painfully, the whistle of the sword that arced through the air, and the thrill of fear that shot through her when she really, truly thought they would kill her for inquiring about a hairbrush, just before they merely messily sliced off her dark, long tresses instead. But her family didn't need to know the details. It didn't matter. Besides, that was hardly the worst thing that had happened.

Rose was looking at her calculatingly, her lips pursed, as if she suspected there was more to the story but didn't want to press. Finally, she just warmly squeezed Jade's shoulders and asked her to sit.

Obediently, Jade sat on folded legs on the stony floor. John, looking at her anxiously, knelt in front of her and held her hands. "Are you sure you don't mind? You look sad again! I'm sorry, really—"

"John," she interrupted, laughing slightly and inwardly glad for the distraction as Rose's scissors snipped away around her head, "It's okay. I am sad, but it's okay. Don't worry so much!"

He still looked at least a little unconvinced, but she smiled at him as sincerely as she could, and he brightened. "I'll still worry, because you know that's what brothers do, but okay. If you insist, I'll try to worry a little less."

"In that case, I'll worry about you, too, because that's what sisters do." Her giggle was real, not forced, and that more than anything brought back John's big smile from before.

"You guys are so cute," Dave snorted from beside them, where he was watching Rose work on Jade's hair.

"So are you," Jade smiled up at him, reaching out and taking his hand too. "And Rose. We're all cute."

The last of her once-long-and-beautiful hair fell around her feet, and Rose stood. "Alright, all done, my lovely cuties. What do you think?" she asked, offering Jade a small, scratched hand mirror. Jade turned it this way and that, examining her new haircut. It was short, just barely past her chin, with sideswept bangs much like she had had when she was younger. It looked very different from what she'd been used to, but ... she was a new Jade, now. It was only fitting.

"I like it," she told Rose. "Thanks!"

"Let's move out?" John suggested.

"Let's go," Jade agreed, and intertwined her fingers with his.

* * *

Several days later found them back in the routine they'd been in (before Jade had been taken, at least) for a long time. Never staying in one place too long, they tried their best to blend in with general populations whenever they had to be in town, but usually dropped off the grid whenever possible. Anonymity was a good cloak, but simply not being there was even better.

On this particular day, Jade was walking through the forest, her arm linked with Rose's. Dappled sunlight was streaming through the green leaves overhead, giving the entire area an enchanting, verdant glow that brought a smile to her face. "It's so nice outside today," she remarked, brushing a dewdrop from a leaf and admiring the play of the light on the water on her fingers.

"It is," Rose agreed, smiling too. Perhaps she was just happy to see Jade happy? Either way, Jade was glad that she was glad. "I suppose we should at least be grateful for the little things, if that's what you're getting at."

"What? No, don't you start this again," Jade admonished, her eyes dancing with amusement. "Not everyone speaks to say the opposite of what they mean!"

Rose laughed, a merry little tinkling sound. "I know, I know. I guess it is a nice day."

The smaller girl nodded and playfully poked her friend's cheek with the finger with the dewdrop, giggling. "I'm happy that it's at least not cold and dark. It's warm and bright and green." Truth be told, just being out in the world again and not being confined to a dark, small stony cell was doing wonders for her mood. She felt so, so much closer to her normal self again, at least during the day. At night, the nightmares came back, and she always regressed into a shivering heap, but at least in the day she was getting better.

It was hard now that they knew not to use Jade's magic. In the past it had been useful; while they were walking, she could lighten their packs or shrink some of the heavier things like bedrolls and tents and just enlarge them when they arrived somewhere for the night. But now she was wary of using it at all in case _they _showed up, so now the four of them had to stay completely under the radar. Breaking the habit of using her magic for simple, daily purposes was hard; if Rose hadn't caught her with a warning earlier, she might have accidentally brought the drones upon them by just shrinking the backpacks.

All of them had to watch each others' backs, now more than ever. It was a dismal prospect to be sure; Jade didn't want to spend the rest of her life like this! But that was really the only option left. If they ever would have considered trying to compromise with the Empress, well, that was out of the question now, to say the least. Jade never wanted to see her minions again!

But it was a good day and she was not going to ruin it by remembering her time in captivity, no, she was _not_. Resolutely straightening her shoulders, she raised her chin a notch and walked a little faster, pulling Rose along.

"What's this?" her friend asked, tilting her head in amused inquiry.

"I'm _determined _to have a good day," Jade explained. "We're all going to just have a good day, and that's that."

"Hey! Wait up!" John complained from somewhere in their wake, where he and Dave had started to fall behind. "Don't go so fast, jeez!"

"Hm, I have an idea, Jade," Rose suggested. "If I recall correctly, if we keep this trajectory we'll hit a freshwater spring in a little while. Why don't we stop for a picnic?"

Dave frowned and crossed his arms for a moment. "We are kind of supposed to be fleeing here. What part of that makes you think 'hey, it would be a _great _idea to stop and have a fucking picnic in a little meadow by the wayside'?"

"Well, it's not like anyone would expect us to," Rose replied smoothly, seeming entertained by her cousin's disgruntlement. "They probably expect us to keep running, day and night. I don't think anyone would look for us at a picnic. Besides..." she trailed off but cast a meaningful glance at Jade, who wasn't paying attention due to the distraction provided by the feel of the green leaves against her fingers as she trailed them through the branches hanging overhead. "I think she needs some leisure time."

He sighed. "Fine, I guess. Whatever. We can have a picnic. But be careful."

"Trust me," John chimed in, oddly serious for his usually playful demeanor. "We're going to keep everyone, especially her, safe. I promise."

* * *

It was a few weeks later when everything finally blew over. Jade was sitting in the campsite that they had set up for the night, a small fire going to keep away the chill, and playing cards with Dave; Rose was passing comments as she knitted and observed the game. John was on watch for the first shift, after which Dave would relieve him.

The crackling of the flames was warm and comforting in the cloudy night. They were in another wooded area, a pine forest this time rather than a deciduous one, and the trees were tall and black against the dark sky. She wasn't too fond of the darkness, but at least Jade felt more peaceful than she had for a while, and by now everyone was used to the way she would come sit and lean into them, seeking tactile comfort. Right now, her head rested on Dave's shoulder. It was peaceful and nice, the sound of the wind in the trees providing a nice background of sound to the almost cozy campsite.

"Don't play that one," Rose warned idly, not even looking up from her needles. "The one on its right is a better bet."

"Oh come on," Dave complained, though he was really just in jest. They all felt more lighthearted than they had in the past while. "You're telling me you're getting passive visions of our _card _game?"

Rose had opened her mouth to answer when there was a crash in the bushes and John came flying into the center of camp—flying, not running—with leaves and twigs and dirt all over his clothes. "They're here, they found us, go, go, go!" he gasped, already gesturing with both arms at the tents, bags, and luggage, which began to sloppily pack itself up as pushed by the wind. Jade let out a wordless cry of fear, springing to her feet; Dave was immediately running to grab the most essential of their supplies and stuff it in a bag.

Only panicking for a moment, though the _feeling _of her crippling terror didn't leave, Jade hurried to help John. "They've found us?" she cried over the howling wind.

"They did! We have like ten minutes tops," he called back, and that was when she knew there needed to be no holding back from her powers this time.

"Leave it!" she shrieked. "I'll take care of the bags!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! Leave it!"

"What are you doing?!" he yelled back.

Suddenly, Jade noticed Rose, still sitting near the ashes of their fire, a look of shock on her face. She seemed frozen. Was she alright? Was it her visions doing something?

"John! Check on Rose, and give me a moment!"

Ignoring what he might have said in response, she closed her eyes and focused on her magic, the throbbing green star in her core. What she was about to do would hurt, but not too badly. She could take a little pain to save her friends.

After all, if the soldiers had already found them, then a flash of green magic wouldn't hurt. It might even help. Because Jade had an idea to throw them off. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't, but at this point, if _they _were coming and almost here and no no no they were _not _going to get their hands on her again, or on her friends, they were _NOT_!

She drew out a thick tendril of green light from her well of power and wrapped it around the tents, the luggage, and most importantly, each and every atom of her friends' bodies. It wouldn't do to leave them behind, after all. She wrapped it around herself, too, because there was no way she was staying either. And then, she vanished them all.

They teleported to six different locations around the planet, roughly equidistant from each other, to the sea and mountains and plains and swamps and anywhere else. The world was a blur and she was using way more power than she'd had originally, because if she'd had this ability originally she never would have been captured, but if they only could sense locations—which was what her suspicions were—then having a large number of them, roughly at the same time, all over the place? That could throw them off for a while.

Finally, the landscapes stopped flashing by between bursts of electric green and settled on a rocky, hilly scene, with the four of them and their supplies in a little shallow cave. John, Rose, and Dave all looked thoroughly confused and rather alarmed as they stumbled on the new footing, but Jade's attention was focused on herself—the pain was coming, the sharp, throbbing stabbing sensation in her core that reminded her just how unnatural it was to wield that kind of power.

Letting out a gasping moan, she clutched at herself and collapsed to the ground, a few rocks digging into her legs uncomfortably. It would subside in a few minutes, but for those slow seconds that it took for it to relinquish its grip on her the pain was excruciating, pulsing through her in waves that sapped at her resilience.

"Jade?" She was vaguely aware of hearing Dave's sharp, worried voice, of John anxiously lifting her from the stones, but her focus was only on her body, wracked by spasms of agony.

"Jade?! What's wrong, tell me, let me help you," her brother was pleading. His voice seemed to drift to her from miles away, carried on a wind or something and filled with fear and concern. A soft, dry sob was all she could emit in response, but at least the pain was lessening now, starting to dull its fiery claws. Her arms unclenched and she let herself go limp, slumping against him and panting slightly.

"Jade?" It was Dave again, kneeling next to John. He squeezed one of her hands between both of his anxiously, looking down at her with a troubled expression.

"I'm okay," she breathed, taking in gulps of air and slowly relaxing in John's arms. "I'm okay. Where's Rose?"

"She's over there, just a little overwhelmed from...whatever that was," John answered, frowning slightly. "What—what just happened? Oh, Jade, you're shaking..."

"I'm okay," she repeated, looking over his shoulder to see Rose shakily standing and starting to walk toward them. "Don't worry, I'll be fine in a minute, just..."

"Hang on just a goddamn moment here," Dave frowned. He was still holding her hand, and Jade weakly squeezed it in a placating gesture. "Since when could you teleport all of us plus all our shit just like that? And I have a feeling that was more than one place, too."

Jade gave him an unimpressed look. Did she _really _have to explain this? Really? No, let him figure it out. She was too drained and too recently released from the clutches of agony to deal with these boys, really. Ah, there came the dawning realization of horror, in twin expressions mirrored between them both.

"Oh god, oh my _god_," John's eyes were as round as dinner plates. Dave was just staring at her with a horrorstruck expression, wordless.

"Since then," she replied with a deadpan expression, snuggling back into John's embrace. "But it hurts to use all of that. Which is what the other part of 'what just happened' was."

"Oh, Jade," Rose murmured, standing behind John and Dave with her hands on their shoulders. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's fine," Jade shook her head. She probably ought to sit up now, because they still should move from the spot she teleported them to, but John was so warm and huggable, and there was still residual pain spiking in her core. But she had to be strong, strong for them, so she pushed herself slowly into an upright position. "We should get moving."

"Yes, we should," Rose nodded, a trace of sadness and something unreadable still in her expression as she regarded Jade. "There's a troop coming, they'll be in this spot in, give or take some, roughly three hours. We'd best be gone by then. I don't know how I didn't see those ones coming before, but these ones are clear as day."

It was a bleak look for their future, if this what what they had to look forward to every day of the rest of their lives. But, as they began to trek across the rocky terrain, the petite girl started to feel more optimistic. Jade Harley was getting the barest inklings of a radical, likely-to-fail idea, born of desperation in the dark of night.

* * *

_AN: Yesss, continuing to roll, look at me go! B) Jade makes me so happy, I love her. She's getting a lot closer to her old self here, see, as time passes; maybe one day I can even write close-to-canon Jade! _

_In regards to the little giveaway I'm doing, I'm going to leave that open considering I'm updating roughly 24 hours later and I know that's not quite a big enough time window for everyone who might necessarily want to read the last chapter. I think what I'll do is make that everyone who reviews whatever chapter I've got out by Saturday. I'll PM everyone who gets a request!_

_Snowy - I hope you know I laughed out loud upon reading that. I am still on my roll, just rolling down the stairs, bounce bounce bounce off I go! Hahaha. Yeah, Jake and Roxy are okay. Dirk and Jane... well, not so much. AR doesn't have a big role in this story but he might do a few things, I'm not sure yet! I might work him into the outline just for you :D Finally, at least this one isn't as cliffhanger-y, right?_

_Rouge - Yessss Dave and Jade being cuties :D (squinty eyes at you, do I spy a fellow DaveJade shipper?) I mean, I don't think I'm writing any romance into this story at all but I do love their interactions regardless. And same to Jake and Roxy, they're just sweet friends who care about each other a heck of a lot. Thank you sooo much for the compliments, though!_

_And thank you to everyone who reads this story. You're all wonderful and deserve fifteen cookies of your choice._


	18. Chapter 18: Roxy - Anguish

By some stroke of fortune, this communicator was undamaged. Roxy snatched it up after a few, long and shocked seconds and spoke furiously into the mouthpiece. "What the hell are you suggesting? Are you saying that they took him?"

A ripple of annoyance drifted through the smooth robotic voice. "I just told you a fact. He hasn't been home since that day. Whatever conclusions you choose to draw from that are your own, but here's a hint from my amazing calculations, the ones that are pretty much fucking always correct. Yeah, they took him, dumbass."

She stopped dead. The AR swore a lot just like Dirk, but it took a lot to make him angry—either him, really. Dirk had once said the robot had feelings just like himself... was he upset that Dirk was gone?

But there was a more pressing concern at the forefront of her mind right now than the feelings of what Jake often referred to as "a rude buffoon of a tin can". "AR—Dirk," she said deliberately, "if you'll do me a kindness and run some more of your awesome calculations or whatever, just... just tell me this. Did they take Jane, too?"

There was a heartbeat of silence during which Roxy could feel her pulse thundering in her ears, and the world seemed to slow down. _Please say no please say no please say at least she's okay please say no, please, please—_

"It seems so," AR said.

"_No!_" Roxy cried, her free hand jumping to her mouth. How could this have happened? Not one but _two _of their friends, her dear beloved best friends who were closer to her than she'd ever been with her mother before she disappeared, had been kidnapped and taken by—by the green soldiers, the brutal terrible green soldiers, to who knew where and who knew what awful things, and it was all her fault!

How could she have let this happen? Passionate, brilliant Dirk and sweet, charismatic Jane, both of them snatched up by the claws of whoever the hell that had been, oh no, oh no no no she was _awful _for letting this happen!

"AR," she half-sobbed into the communicator. "Do you have any idea who took them?"

There was another slight pause. Could robots even hesitate? Roxy had no idea if that was even possible or not, but AR seemed to delight in being as close to the real Dirk as possible, which made this an even harder conversation to have. "I do," he finally said. "But with reservations. It sounds really fucking stupid, so I don't think I'll say just yet."

"How could you just choose not to tell me?" she shrieked at him, suddenly incensed. She had to _do _something to fix this, she had to! It was her fault in the first place, so it fell to her to fix it and yet this damn robot was refusing to help her right her wrongs and save Dirk and Jane?!

"First of all, if it keeps you from trying to mount a rescue mission that would actually be a suicide mission, I will happily not tell you things that you might pick up if you started being more observant around yourself. Second, here is how I can 'just choose not to tell you'." There was a click, and the line went dead.

Roxy stared at the device in her shaking hands, unsure whether she was trembling from rage or grief. Both, probably. Both sounded right. An immense urge to hurl it into the fountain and scream until she started sobbing overcame her, but that wouldn't be a good idea. She was still in public, still on the university campus, and she still needed to call Jake.

Jake.

Oh god... she had to tell Jake it was all her fault that Jane and Dirk were gone.

"I can't do this," she whispered brokenly to the air, sinking back to the stones that she'd been sitting on and drawing her knees to her chest. There was too much, too much of everything, and she had to keep it all together and keep it a secret and—

The worst part was that, in the past, when she felt so overwhelmed by life and classes and rebellion, she could just go to Dirk's apartment and clear off a spot on the couch from all the half-finished robotics projects to curl up in, and he would make tea or coffee (usually coffee, which she teased him about) and they would both just sit and talk and help each other with work. It was her habit when she felt terrible, but now the idea made her feel worse. It was her fault that there was no more Dirk to go seek comfort from, no Dirk to let her cry on his shoulder.

And Jane, her little Jane, who she felt personally responsible for even more than she did for Dirk. Roxy let out a little whimper, remembering how it had been her who persuaded Jane to join the revolutionary movement in the first place, remembering how happy Jane had been when she found herself having a sense of purpose again after her father and grandfather's deaths, remembering how Jane had been there for her during the deepest part of her alcoholism crisis, and how Jane had been her best friend all these years.

A moan escaped her and she let her head thunk to her knees. The position kind of hurt her neck, but the darkness provided by the curtain of hair and by closing her eyes was definitely preferable to the bright, mockingly happy day. It matched the feeling in her heart more, like a great empty void just consuming her from the inside. There was a hollow space in her that had been filled with her friends before, and now had only one third of its occupants. Sure, she had other friends, like Herryn and some of the other students, but none of them were as close as Jane, Dirk, and Jake were. Jane and Dirk and Jake weren't just friends, they were her family, more than her mother had ever been, and she had failed them.

But that didn't change the fact that she had to call Jake. At least it might be easier to tell him over communicator than in person—no, she couldn't do that! One fatal mistake did not allow her to be stupid enough to allow another. They had to speak in person, because for the most part public communications were tapped. Roxy Lalonde the witty university student should not have any idea about the disappearance of the mysterious Masked Maiden or Shaded Prince, as the public had taken to calling them. Roxy Lalonde the witty university student couldn't afford more strange, peculiar disappearances or other controveries after her long absence, suspiciously close to the dates of the march.

It had taken all of her charm and cunning to convince people that it had been a coincidence, that she'd just happened to trip and fall down the stairs and hit her head really hard and then self-diagnosed a concussion, at which point it seemed prudent to stay home and rest until she felt better.

(The best lies, she knew, were the ones that were close to the truth.)

No, she was just thinking to distract herself from what she had to do, again. Steeling herself, Roxy raised her head from her crossed arms and cast a wary glance from teary eyes at the communicator sitting innocuously on the stones next to her. The deed would have to be done sooner or later...

She took a deep breath, in and out. Then she picked up the device and pressed the button to call Jake.

He didn't pick up, most likely still at work, which was probably a blessing, she decided. Swallowing to try and dislodge the lump in her throat, she started to speak. "Hey... Jake?" Damn it, her voice still sounded like she was crying. She tried again. "Um, it's me. We... we have to talk, meet me tomorrow night? You know where. I—okay, I'll explain tomorrow," she laughed breathily at her own silly inability to leave a coherent message. "Okay. I love you, bye."

She ended the call with another click and slowly lowered the communicator, her hands trembling again. This was real, it was really happening, wasn't it? It was, it really was. Oh no, how could this be happening? It had to be a bad dream.

But it wasn't.

* * *

It was a few hours later when Jake returned the call, sounding worried despite also sounding exhausted. Roxy wasn't too sure how he managed both of those at once, but somehow he did. She was sitting alone in her apartment, trying to force herself to finish her homework. All that was left was the calculus assignment, which she couldn't look at without remembering her breezy call to AR that had left her feeling so awful. She was already feeling fragile, and looking at the problems brought her perilously close to tears each time because _Dirk, Dirk and Jane._ The sudden call distracted her from her thoughts, but only for a moment.

"Roxy? What's wrong, are you quite alright?" he asked anxiously as soon as she picked up. "I am so sorry I didn't answer your call, I was still at work earlier and everything, you know! I really hope you aren't mad at me for that, you aren't, are you? What happened, is everything over there—"

"Jake!" she interrupted with a watery laugh. How was it that he made her laugh anyway just by babbling on and on? Something about just hearing his voice, virtually having his presence nearby, seemed to put her at ease. It was strange, but she'd noticed it in the past. At the moment she had no idea at all what it might mean, but it was something to keep in consideration, maybe. "I'm—I'm alright. But just... just tell me this," she clutched at the straws of a ridiculous hope. "Have you seen or talked to Jane in the past two weeks?"

"You mean since the—hm... no, not since then, why?"

Her heart sank so fast that it was more akin to falling down a deep chasm and shattering into a million pieces at the bottom of the void. "I..." Her voice broke into a muffled sob, and she hastily pressed a fist to her lips to stifle any further cries. Jake let out a startled exclamation.

"Roxy! What's going on, why are you crying?"

"I—I should tell you in person," she sniffled miserably, legs crossed tightly and her body hunched in on itself as she sat on her bed. "I'm sorry. I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow night? Oh, very well, if you must... I don't like this," he sighed shortly. "I wish I could just come visit you."

Roxy was silent. That would be nice, more than nice, and she desperately wanted him to, but it was dead week here at the university—the week before finals. Receiving visitors was deeply frowned upon in case one distracted the people living around them, who were theoretically busy with studies. Not only would she get in trouble, but also she might attract unwanted attention to both herself and Jake. "You can't," she finally replied, an undercurrent of sadness in her voice.

"I know," he said wistfully. There was a pause during which Roxy ached to just pour her heart out to him, right then and there, but due to her security paranoia she didn't dare, and then the moment passed. Jake broke the silence. "I suppose I shall talk to you tomorrow then, Roxy. Take care."

Another sob escaped her before she could stop it, pressing her hand to her mouth again in vain. "Y—yeah, see you."

There was another pause, as if Jake was hesitating to hang up and end the call. Roxy knew she sure as hell wasn't going to, because as soon as there was that beep she knew she was going to lose control and bawl uncontrollably into her pillow. "Roxy," he started gently, but stopped again, at a loss for words.

Oh no, he was going to do the thing where he would preface with a long pre-apology about how he didn't mean to press her but he was worried, and then he would ask so softly and tenderly why she was crying, why she wouldn't let him help her and—no, she couldn't deal with that, she would spill everything and then the Witch might go after him too. She had already failed Jane and Dirk, she couldn't fail Jake too.

"Bye, Jake," she forced out and hung up too quickly for him to reply. The sudden feeling of loneliness without even her virtual company left her staring at the device in her hands for a second, feeling a scream rising in her throat, and carelessly threw it onto her blanket. Then she collapsed on the bed and shrieked into the pillows, and spent the rest of the night sobbing until she was hoarse and too tired to wipe away her tears.

_Dirk, Jane... I'm so sorry... please come back. I want you back! Please, please, come back..._

* * *

By the time the next evening rolled around, Roxy was a wreck. It was good that there were no classes for the rest of the week, just preparation for finals, because she wouldn't have been able to make it through any of them without curling in on herself and crying from the terrible weight of guilt. She didn't dare call Dirk again, feeling far too terrible to try and face AR's calm, robotic judgement no matter how much she just wanted to hear Dirk's voice again. Calling Jane had just resulted in a chipper "Hi there! You've reached the inbox of Jane Crocker, which means either I'm busy or I just didn't feel like answering your call, I guess. Please leave a message!" that hurt her heart even further. And calling Jake was out of the question.

Not bothering to neatly style her hair or wear anything that required effort, she stepped out of the apartment in just some simple soft pants and an oversized, faded orange T-shirt that she'd borrowed from Dirk one day and just forgotten to return. Time had passed and they'd both just accepted it as part of her wardrobe. Now she wore it specifically because it reminded her of her missing friend, and after some frantic, hysterical searching she had located the bracelet Jane had woven for her birthday a few years ago. It still fit on her wrist—thank the stars for that girl's foresight in making the clasp adjustable—and she wore it to balance the shirt, two mementos of her two loved ones.

Roxy left the campus about an hour before dusk, walking the path she knew by heart without really thinking about it until she had arrived in the underground hideout's main room. On the way, she passed a few groups of students from the political science building, one of whom was speaking in a hush, which of course attracted Roxy's attention. It was as if all things secretive and having to do with not being there called to her these days, yet another pattern she'd been noticing.

"Did you hear about the whole protest march that the Shaded Prince and Masked Maiden tried to pull? Tons of people who went died, but it wasn't the Empress who killed them. I've actually heard..." the student lowered his voice further. "You know the old stories about Lord English? I think there's a political group that's her rival or something that uses that name and it was them who killed everybody." Roxy winced; that was too raw for her to think about just yet. She walked faster until she reached the comforting, achingly familiar confines of the secret hideaway.

Jake wasn't here yet; the usual time wasn't for another half hour. But it gave her time to sit and think and try not to sob, when she got an idea. There was the kitchen...

When Jake arrived, the whole secret base smelled of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, Jane Crocker style. Expecting to see her with Roxy, who was... for some reason, upset? he walked into the main room, which had a kitchen off to the side and stopped in surprise to see Roxy alone placing a tray on the countertop.

"Roxy?" he asked in surprise. She jumped, startled, and let out a yelp that turned into a hissed swear as her hand brushed the hot metal of the tray painfully, leaving an angry, red mark.

"Oh, hey, Jake," she smiled weakly, waving with the uninjured hand while running cold water over the burn. "Sorry, I didn't see you come in."

"Are you alright?!" he hurriedly crossed the room and took her hand gently, examining the wound. Roxy peered at it too, frowning but also mildly curious. It wasn't a seriously terrible wound that looked like it might get infected or anything, just a small one. Probably it would take a week or so to heal, she estimated. "It doesn't look too bad. Jane can probably fix it up for you in no time!"

Oh no, he'd said the very thing that would trigger another round of tears. Come on, Lalonde, no, no, stop crying—oh fuck it. She let out a little whimper and wrapped her arms around Jake, pressing her face to his shoulder. He was bewildered, that much was obvious, but he held her close anyway and stroked her hair.

"Roxy? What's wrong?"

Leaving the cookies forgotten on the countertop to cool, she just hugged him tighter, willing him to somehow understand without making her say the words. It was as if saying the dreaded sentences would in some way make them be even more true, which was something she couldn't abide, still feeling somewhat in denial even now.

"Please tell me what's wrong," Jake earnestly pleaded, looking down at her fretfully. "Why are you crying like this?"

Roxy shuddered and released him to wipe her eyes blearily, catching sight of Jane's little blue bracelet on her wrist and letting out another hiccupping sob. "Oh god," she gasped, trying to swallow the tears. "Oh god, it's all my fault. I—oh, Jake, they've been taken."

His reaction was instantaneous and as drastic as if she'd dropped a stack of porcelain plates on stone; all the color drained from his face and he stepped back in shock, his back hitting the edge of the countertop. "What—what do you mean?"

"Two... two weeks ago," she managed before starting to cry again. "Those soldiers got them, I'm pretty sure."

"Pretty sure?" It was Jake's turn to grasp at desperate straws of hope. "But doesn't that mean that there's a chance you're just overreacting or something?"

"I talked to AR. He—he said Dirk hasn't been home at all since then. And Jane hasn't answered the phone or the door since then. AR says they were both kidnapped," she broke down and sat on the floor, burying her face in her hands. "This is all my fault. I should have just—ugh! I need to help them, Jake... how can I do that when—when I just don't know—" her voice faltered and broke, giving way to more desperate weeping.

When she finally looked up, worried and tentative, Jake was glassy-eyed and tearful as well, both of his hands clenched in tight fists. "How... how could we have just let that happen?" he asked. "How?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—" she started when he abruptly seized her and pulled her into a hug again.

"Don't," he said raggedly. "Don't blame yourself, don't try to make me blame you, Roxy. You—you're all that I have left, please don't push me away..." he begged desperately. Roxy felt her heart, shattered into a million pieces already, break into about a billion.

She slid her uninjured hand up to stroke through his messy hair soothingly, rubbing his shoulder somewhat awkwardly with the other. "Oh, Jakey... I'm not leaving you. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

He sniffled once and began to cry again in her arms, and both of them clung to each other in the little kitchen for several minutes as the tears flowed. After a little while, when they had both quieted for the most part, Roxy lifted her head from Jake's shoulder to look him in the eye.

"I hope this doesn't become a recurring habit," she joked lamely. "This whole hugging-and-crying thing every time we see each other? I would prefer it if we had the ability to sometimes get together without that."

"Me too," Jake agreed with a sad little half-smile. Roxy hugged him again.

"Do you want cookies?" she asked, suddenly remembering her attempt at the culinary exploits. A little over a month or so ago, Jane had taught her to bake them, after the first of the huge rallies they'd held when Jane had lost her glasses in the stampede.

"Golly, I sure do," he brightened some. She laughed slightly and stood, tugging him to his feet with her good hand. The tray was on the counter, and the cookies were probably a little bit cold but still on the warm side. Turning her back to Jake, she grabbed two saucers and a fork to pick them from the tray with.

"If we've gotten the sob session out of the way, by the way," she began as lightly as she could with a voice that was still tremulous and close to tears, "there's something I need to talk to you about. The details of this whole thing."

"The details?" he asked carefully. "What details?"

"Who took them," she replied, placing a stack of cookies on one saucer and sliding it down the counter a ways.

"What do you mean? It was the Batterwitch—"

"No, it wasn't," she interrupted quietly. "It was someone else. I guess it was the concussion, but I completely forgot to mention it to you that night. Anyway... there were originally some of her soldiers coming, but the green ones killed them all first. And then they attacked the march and carried off Dirk and Jane."

Jake was silent for a moment. "There's... there's a thought I just had that I don't want to consider but I feel like we have to."

Roxy felt a cold fist clench around her stomach as she put the remaining cookies on the other saucer. "What is it?"

"What if they just... what if those soldiers just killed them? They mowed down everybody else..." he gulped.

"No! No, no, no." That was her first, instinctive response—there was no way they were dead. It was not allowed. But thankfully, it also made sense for them to be alive. "I don't know who they are, but if they have a vendetta against our movement, it would make more sense to parade the bodies as proof if they were dead to kill all support. We haven't seen any of that. I'm pretty sure they were kidnapped." And probably being interrogated or something awful, but she didn't need to tell Jake that. Either he had figured it out on his own already or he didn't need to. Either way, it wasn't like that knowledge would help anyone.

"Oh, I see. That does make sense." Relief was palpable in Jake's tone; the cynic in Roxy that usually came out when she was just barely drunk wanted to laugh at the fact that he was relieved that their friends were in captivity of an unknown entity.

"I don't know who they are though. AR knows something, but he refused to tell me!" she scowled, breaking one of her cookies in half irritably. The anger was easier to deal with than the grief, so she welcomed it.

"Why don't we call him now?" Jake suggested. "He's a dreadfully annoying bucket of bolts, but if he can help, there's no reason to not get what we can from him."

The anger started to melt away alarmingly fast, replaced again by the muddled feelings of sorrow and confusion. She felt like such a disappointment to her friends, even a synthetic version of one of them. That was the crux of the matter, she was too ashamed of her own stupid actions to want to talk to AR. A lump was rising in her throat again, but she did her best to swallow it and nodded. "Yeah, you're... you're right."

Jake had pulled out his communicator before she even finished speaking, calling Dirk's number and placing it on speaker mode. Roxy swallowed hard again and edged closer to him, hoping he'd get the message that she just wanted a hug again.

"Hello, you've been redirected to Dirk Strider's chill-as-fuck voicemail and autoresponder service," the AR greeted blandly. "Sup, Jake."

"Hello, AR," Jake replied, looping an arm around Roxy's shoulders affectionately. "Do you perchance know the whereabouts of Dirk today?"

"Oh come on," the AR sighed. "Lalonde didn't already tell you? Man, you guys are bad at communication."

Roxy turned her head to press her face into his shoulder. The AR sounded like Dirk, and she wanted Dirk and Jane back desperately. How was Jake staying so calm? Maybe because it wasn't really his fault that this was happening.

"She told me a little bit," Jake answered. "But she said you were her source, so I would just like to know—"

"He's in a prison cell somewhere. That's as accurate as I can get you. And before you ask, yes, I'm certain, and also before you ask, same for Jane. On both the where she is and how sure I am counts, clarifying because you probably wouldn't understand me otherwise."

Jake bristled; Roxy let out a choked sob and pulled away from him to bury her face in her hands again, which wasn't the best idea considering there was a burn on one of them. She let out a gasp of pain and began to cry harder again, which at least distracted Jake before he got into an argument with the computer.

"Shit, is that Roxy?" The AR's voice was almost concerned and worried now. It really did sound like Dirk. "Ah, fuck. Roxy?"

Roxy didn't answer for several seconds. Jake held her carefully and responded, "She's here."

The AR seemed to waver for a moment. "Look... oh, shit, you're sitting there thinking it's all your fault, aren't you? Man, I probably fucked that up pretty bad earlier. Even though I pretty much never fuck up. Uh, sorry, Lalonde. That's not what I meant to imply. I just want you to think for yourself a bit. Listen around, see what interesting tidbits you can pick up. Probably people in your campus are talking about it already."

"Talking about what?" she sniffed, filing the apology away to mull over later.

"Think," said the infuriatingly smooth Dirk-but-not-Dirk. "Have you heard any pertinent rumors or information? I bet you have and just forgot about it."

"Pertinent to what? How Dirk and Jane are gone and everyone's talking about it? Yeah, I've heard enough of the 'Shaded Prince' and 'Masked Maiden' to last me the next several years, thanks," she snapped tearily. "If you're going to be helpful, stop beating around the bush. Otherwise, just shut the hell up and let me fix this!"

"Roxy..." Jake cautioned, casting the communicator a dirty look. "And you too, AR. You should respect that we actually have feelings and you should take those into consideration with all your calculations or whatever bullshit!"

"I have feelings," the AR immediately retorted. "It seems that you have a habit of treading all over them, so it seems normal to me to disregard yours."

"Don't you even start!" Roxy interrupted. "Don't either of you start arguing with each other. What are you trying to get at, AR?"

There was a short huff from the communicator. "Well, before you got all defensive, I was trying to get you to think about whether you'd heard anything about the source of these different green soldiers," the AR said almost petulantly.

About the source of the green soldiers...? "No, I don't think I have," Roxy frowned, her grief forgotten as she probed her thoughts.

"Think harder," was the immediate response.

"I don't know! I haven't heard anything like that!" she glared, feeling the prick of tears threatening her again. "I'm sorry, AR, I'm really not in the mood for this. What are you talking about?"

The Auto-Responder sighed. "Okay. Does the name 'Lord English' ring any bells?"

"Well, of course," Jake blinked. "He's an old fable. Lord of Demons or Nightmares, depending on the version."

"Well, well, well, aren't you nice and schooled on the topic?" AR snorted. "Now, does that ring any bells given the other shit I asked you?"

"No," Roxy started irritably, then paused. "Wait... actually, I did overhear something..."

"_Finally_," AR groaned. "Took you long enough. There's another political rivalry between the Batterwitch and and offplanet-based group who took the pseudonym Lord English and those were their soldiers."

"You could have just said that outright!" Jake exclaimed.

"It wouldn't have made you work for it," was the cavalier response. "You need to learn to be more observant and to think before jumping to conclusions."

"Oh my _god_!" Roxy groaned exasperatedly. "You should pick up a sense of timing! Hello, Dirk and Jane are in—some prison somewhere, it's not time to be teaching morality lessons or life lessons or whatever!"

"It's exactly the time," AR said peevishly. "You don't need to be going around being so dumb at a time like this."

"Whatever," she sighed, frowning. "We have our work cut out for us, don't we... Anyway, we'll talk to you later, AR. Bye."

Before the program could protest, Jake leaned over and ended the call. "Dealing with him is always such an ordeal," he grumbled.

Roxy hummed in agreement, taking a bite from one of her cookies thoughtfully. Jake crossed the short distance between them and hugged her again, seeming to just want the comfort of physical contact. Roxy leaned against him, reaching up with her free hand to pet his shoulder, and let her mind wander.

A few heartbeats passed in quiet, each of them caught up in his or her thoughts. Memories of Dirk and Jane drifted by, accompanied by speculations about the future and dreaded guesses about their friends' current conditions and just musings on life in general. Roxy finally broke the silence with a seemingly simple question. "Do you think the prophecy might come true in our lifetimes?"

There was an ancient prophecy, passed down in legend from hundreds of years ago. The original lines had been muddled by oral tradition over time, but it was something about a selected, magic-wielding group of four who would somehow "set the world to rights", like a great cleansing breeze bring light back to all space and time or something. The words were flowery and pretty, but the meaning was essentially that the world would have a just and peaceful, prosperous era, right?

"I ... I don't know," Jake said after a moment of thought. "For a while, I thought that maybe the prophecy _was _us, bringing about a new era and all. But that was self-centered, I realize now. I hope it does, but I honestly, truthfully have not the faintest idea."

"That's how I feel, too," Roxy sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. "At least we've got each other."

Jake smiled, a faint shadow of his usual bright grin that was somehow a thousand times softer and more fragile. "And we're never letting go."

* * *

_AN: Ah, angst. My favorite. :P I still love Roxy... and I'm starting to notice a pattern here. The more I love a character, the more pain I seem to try to put them through. ...I am so sorry, Jade, I really really am. On another note, we're still on a roll here-WE'RE GONNA WRITE IT AA-ALL, ROLLIN IN THE DEE-EE-EEP ahem I apologise it's past midnight and I'm tired and thought that that was inordinately amusing._

_Anyway. Giveaway's still ongoing, it cuts off this Saturday! The nightly updates are also going to end with tomorrow's most likely as I'm going to be busy over the weekend, but I will have another chapter for you by Monday, most likely. _

_Snowy - Did you get cookies? :P I had a bag of them in my dorm but I finished the last one today, which was very sad. Thanks again for notifying me about my silly mistakes hahaha! Trust me, I'm not going to force AR into the story but the outline that I have does have a little hole in it that now that I consider it, he really fits in quite snugly. I'm super glad that you like my Jade! She has a special place in my heart. (Should I apologize to her again? :c ) There can be a DaveJade shipping club, let's start this. *sends you virtual high-five over internet magic because heck yeah!*_

_GoggleHeadOtaku - Oh man, I'm not a fan of Doc Scratch either. He's creepy. I try to write him sometimes and it's like noooo dude get away from my darlings! I won't say anything about if and when the alphas and betas meet, haha, but I'm happy you're enjoying my writing :D_

_Rouge - Yes, chalk up another one for the DaveJade club! XD I'm pretty sure there will be no romance in the main story, but I might write little offshoot AUs that are shippy. I think that I like them just being friends, now that I reflect on it, like Snowy mentioned earlier. Yeah, Jade's having a hard time... I think what she's got is closer to acute stress disorder than PTSD, but yep, she's going to have a realistic (or as realistic as I can make it) recovery from a traumatic experience._

_LordPeanut - Oh my god I nearly called you LordWalnut again. Again! How does this keep happening. Anyway, hello again haha! Yeah... Roxy and Jake both are going through a lot of grief right now. They're both in mourning because it's almost a death sentence for Dirk and Jane, they might never see them again, etc. It's hard on them both! And we'll see about Dirk soon. In... Chapter 20, to be precise. Pfft about the team colors xD good job. Regarding Jade's powers, this has sort of been hinted at but she was captured by the Batterwitch's forces in the past. Her powers, manipulating space, were useful, so they were experimented on and exploited until suddenly she had more than she ever knew what to do with. Not fun, not pretty. Yeahh... this is a little dark, I guess. Ooops._

_Thank you all for reading and reviewing! Have a virtual ice cream. (I guess I'm just going to give away confections virtually now, haha.)_


	19. Chapter 19: Jade - Unleashed

_Warning for dark material and violence._

_Suggested soundtrack for chapter - Cascade_

* * *

It was the early hours of the morning, the distant sun only barely starting to peek over the edges of the hills, when the four of them began trekking across the countryside between villages. Jade was smiling, her face turned toward the faint warmth of the dawn sun as she walked, and although there wasn't quite a spring in her step it was much more enthusiastic than the drowsy trudging along of Rose and Dave, who weren't quite morning people.

Slipping her hand into John's, she shared a soft smile with her brother as they walked along the dirt road. John beamed and almost effortlessly beckoned a tendril of air to brush her cropped hair from her face, making her laugh for a second before she paused, looking surprised.

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you just been casually doing that for a while?"

"Doing what?" he asked, looking at her with slight bewilderment.

Jade waved her hand, the one that wasn't holding his, around in a whooshy, abstract motion. "I don't know, the whole windy thing!"

"Breath magic," Rose supplied groggily.

"Yes, that!" Jade amended. "Breath magic. Have you been doing that for the past few days, without thinking, like you just did?" Her mind was working analytically, like it used to, even though the gears were rusted by fear even still. But she wouldn't let the terror hold her down, she wouldn't! She was going to learn from it and come out on top.

The morning was such a hopeful time, when the world was reborn in bright gold. It was why she loved being up early so much, it felt so much better than the dark of night.

"Uh... I think so," John said guiltily, looking at her with first sheepish and then suddenly wide, horrified eyes. "Oh no, did I bring them back on our tail? Is someone coming?" He whipped around to face Rose as if her visions might immediately provide a way to be sure rather than in the strange, riddle-like way visions worked, or even if her inner eye might see something.

"No, no!" Jade shook her head, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "If they were going to find us by your windy—um, Breath thing, I think they would have already. I was just thinking... hm. Rose?"

"Yes?" the seer asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you about to ask me to attempt to initiate a trance?"

"Gee, I have no idea how you could have known that," Jade giggled.

"Don't try sarcasm," Dave groaned. "It doesn't suit you."

Jade turned to look at him, walking backward and trusting John not to let her fall on the rocky path. "What's that supposed to mean, Dave?" she wanted to know, with a playful frown for good measure.

"Just. No." was his response. "Rose is sarcastic enough for all four of us. And then some. Oh for fuck's sake I'm too tired for this shit."

She laughed lightly, twirling around once just for the fun of it. It was good to take pleasure in the little, simple things in life, right? Especially with a life as ridiculously difficult as theirs, as hers. Honestly, she was rather surprised that she wasn't as tired as he and Rose were, because it wasn't like her nightmares let her get as much rest as she would have liked to.

"See, that? Yes, do that again. That's a you-thing," Dave flapped a hand in her general direction, hefting the pack he was carrying. "Leave the nasty, rude wit to Rose."

"Oh, my, how hurtful," the Light mage said smoothly, smirking ever so slightly at her cousin.

"Yeah, yeah, shut it, Lalonde," he grumbled, seemingly too tired to respond with some sort of ironic quip. Jade supposed he could be forgiven for that, considering that he'd had the morning watch shift, which was always the most draining in all of their collective opinion.

But they were distracting her from her idea, which was important! She was trying to run an experiment here. "But Rose! Can you try, please?" Perhaps a pleading look and '_for me?_' might come in handy—oh, Rose was already laughing and nodding.

"Alright, alright," she said, lips quirked in amusement. "Here, Dave, hold this satchel, will you?" Without waiting for a response she tossed a bag of yarn and needles, which she had been carrying in her hands, to him. It impacted right at the side of his head, near his temple; had he not attempted to duck, it would probably have smacked his cheek. With a sound of complaint he deftly snatched it out of the air before it fell to the ground, slinging it over his shoulder carelessly and trudging on.

"Are we stopping for a few minutes, then, or shall I just trust you to keep me on the proper path?" Rose asked.

"Which would you prefer?" Jade blinked up at her. "I just want to try something, so you don't need to go into full trance-mode. Just that cool thing you do with the mind's eye and all that!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, can we pause for a minute and explain what exactly is going on here?" a puzzled John jumped in, hands held up in a gesture that said _slow down, jeeeeeeez_.

"I have an idea, and I'm gathering evidence to test it," Jade explained, giving him a little grin. "Remember, I'm a scientist, John!"

He blinked at her, once, twice, comprehension—albeit not of what she was trying to explain, but still comprehension—dawning on his face before he let out a joyous whoop and snatched her up, dropping the pack from her shoulders and excitedly hovering a few inches from the ground as he twirled her about. "Jade!" he grinned eagerly, his face lit up with joy. Jade laughed in return, ruffling his already-mussed hair as he spun them both through the air.

She understood exactly why he was beaming so happily; in the month or so since her rescue, she'd retreated into herself and all but forgotten about all her previous hopes and dreams. It was the first time since then that she'd mentioned her aspiration and passion, knowledge and science. John had noticed that almost immediately; her brother excelled in remembering and picking up on details about those around him. He was just happy she was returning to her previous self, the one who preferably wouldn't stay up half the night with terrible nightmares, or have panicky breakdowns when it was dark and she was in a confined place, or sit curled in on herself and refuse to talk to her friends and family when they tried to help her, or—

Well. That was the idea. She was getting there! (...Eventually!)

Dave reached out and snagged her leg, hand around her ankle, and tugged them both back to earth. "Don't get carried away in your jubilation," he warned sardonically. Rose laughed merrily.

"A silly pun? Was that really such a low class of humor from our master of irony?"

"I was using it ironically," he humphed.

"Mm, whatever you say," she smirked, before turning her attention to Jade, who was still in John's arms floating just barely off the rocky ground. "So? What shall it be?"

"We can stop," Jade shrugged, her hands resting lightly on her brother's shoulders. "It shouldn't take too long, and it's not like we have a tight schedule."

"Very true," Rose agreed. The four of them stopped, heaving sighs of relief as they sat and eased their aching legs. John suddenly lit up, seeming to have had an idea.

"Hey, guys! If I've been using windy powers or Breath magic or whatever this—" he held up a hand, a slight breeze swirling around his fingers "—is, and there's been no repercussion so far, I bet I could use it to carry our stuff or at least make it easier for you to carry!"

"Yes, do that," Dave groaned, all but shoving his bag at John. "This shit is heavy."

Meanwhile, Rose cleared a small space around herself and crossed her legs, placing her hands in front of her as if holding something between them, and closed her eyes. Within a few seconds, a bright light that seemed to cycle between white, lavender, and orange was emanating from a point between her hands. She turned her face down to it and opened her eyes, peering directly into the center of the light that was so bright that no one else could stand to look at her. For several heartbeats they waited, Jade watching raptly from the shade provided by her hand held over her eyes, until the light began to fade to a little, radiant orb rather than a small sun that illuminated the area around them.

Rose closed her eyes, let out a deep breath that extinguished the orb, and lowered her hands to her lap before she looked up to meet Jade's gaze. "Well, I didn't see anything in the immediate area that was concerning, but I did notice that there is a village coming up ahead in a few miles, around twelve or so."

"And no weird _oh no someone saw me seeing things _feeling?" Jade asked thoughtfully, examining Rose's immaculate expression.

Rose shook her head in negation. "None whatsoever."

"Hmm..." Jade hummed contemplatively, a pensive expression settling over her features. It seemed that the magic detectors, whatever they were and however they worked, weren't as intimidating as her fear had made them out to be. They could detect the magic of those they'd been specifically exposed to, but perhaps it was much more difficult than she'd thought to track people down just by their use of magic.

Unconsciously she leaned against John, whose arm was still loosely around her waist, as she thought back to her days in captivity and her numerous escape attempts. They'd always found her easily enough with those things, but maybe it was because she had been the test subject while they were being constructed. Her captors had definitely placed a high price on her head, not that she didn't know why. Space mages were rare, just like Time mages—she shuddered to think of what they might do if they knew about Dave, too. He had to remain hidden, even if her own cover was blown—and could be endlessly exploited for the gain of an evil empire. Especially if they had their powers amplified hundreds or thousands or millions of times, however huge it was, because she had lost track of how gigantic her own power was now, and were then forced under threat of pain or death, or both, to carry out orders. It scared her more than a little, because from conversations she'd overheard when she was barely conscious and assumed to be completely out cold, she gathered she was one of the first successful ... "experiments" on Space mages. They wouldn't be happy that she was gone, and they definitely wanted her back. It was merely a question of how far they were willing to go to reclaim her, a valuable prisoner.

That was a digression. She didn't need to think about those times, just about how her knowledge could help them in the future. So far, John had been using Breath with little consequence, and Rose had just used Light to see what lay in store for them and also had seen no troops, even though she was using magic. If her new theory was correct, then she was the only one who had to avoid using her powers. The final test that she had to run would be Dave's Time powers, but she was a little hesitant for a few reasons.

For one, Space and Time were known opposites of each other, magically speaking. (It didn't have anything to do with the mages themselves, of course. She loved Dave!) Could something that pinpointed Space also be used to locate Time? She wasn't sure at all how that might work, but it was a possibility. Another possibility was that Time would be the antithesis of the detectors, not just Space magic, and would completely confuse them, but she didn't want to risk things on a possibly unrealistic hope. Optimism was good; naïveté was not.

And second, Time was in a way more complicated than Space. There had to be a loop for time travel to be consistent; Jade wasn't too sure what happened if one broke loops or didn't make proper ones. She had asked Dave about that once. He'd spouted technobabble for a good ten minutes, something about broken timelines and alpha timelines and things that didn't make sense to her, the same way that the intricacies of Space like the concepts of relativistic space flew straight over his head just like John did. But if they were going to test his ability to use magic without calling down the drones, they needed to find a loop. Going from future to past was generally better than going past to future, because it meant that he'd already...done it? Ugh, she was confusing herself!

"Hellooooo? Jade? You in there?" John interrupted her thoughts, waving a hand in front of her face. "What's up?"

"Oh!" she blinked in surprise, straightening and laughing. "Sorry, just thinking."

"What about?" he asked, shaking his head to toss the hair from his forehead.

Jade wrinkled her nose. "Stuff," she answered. "Those weird magic detection things, magic in general, Time, that kind of thing."

"You, contemplating Time? Well, that explains why you looked so confused," Dave snickered.

Wow, rude, Dave! She made a face at him. "A massive object traveling near the speed of light will endlessly approach infinite mass as it nears the constant speed of three hundred million meters per second, which is the speed of photons traveling in the form of a wave-particle no matter what; light is the seeming exception to the rules of relativity—mmph!"

"It is too damn early for this shit," Dave complained, keeping her in a half-embrace with her face pressed to his shoulder, purely so that she couldn't talk his ear off about Space. "Too. Damn. Early."

Jade giggled, wiggling out from his arms to cross her arms across her chest and give him a triumphant grin. "I guess you never even try to comprehend Space," she teased. "But anyway! I was thinking..." Her grin wavered, fading as she bit her lip in doubt. "I don't know for sure, but I'm starting to think that those things don't detect you guys at all. Just me. Maybe other Space mages, but I hope not."

"Why just you?" John frowned at the same time Rose inhaled abruptly.

"Jade..." she breathed. "They—no... they didn't, did they?"

Jade winced, looking at the stones littering the ground where they sat. "Um... yeah... they—they did." She interlaced her fingers in her lap, pressing them so tightly together that she could see her knuckles go white.

"Jade?" John asked sharply. "What did they do?" His voice was tight with worry as he reached over and untangled her hands, holding one of them between both of his and stroking her fingers with his thumb.

She took a shaky breath, just as Dave wrapped an arm around her shoulders again, though this time the lighthearted, teasing air was gone, replaced by concern and reassurance. "I... I don't want to talk about it," she managed, looking up at Rose helplessly. "You can tell them, you know, I just—I don't want to say it."

"Oh, Jade," Rose looked so sad in that one instant before she leaned forward to hug the smaller girl tightly. Jade let out a choked whimper, all the levity of a mere few seconds ago completely forgotten as she clung to her friend. "Shh, hush, don't cry," Rose murmured into her hair. After a few moments, she slowly pulled back to look at the incredibly confused and also rather anxious Dave and John.

"There's really no way to put this other than bluntly," she prefaced. "Jade was the preferred object of testing for those things. Which, I'm sure you can imagine, was unpleasant."

"Well, you're not wrong," Jade said with a watery chuckle. "Unpleasant is not the word I'd use, though."

John was staring at her with an expression of mixed shock and horror on his face, earnest and clear as day. "No," he whispered. "No, how _could _they? No, no, no," he clasped her in a tight hug. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Jade, how could—oh Jade..."

"I really hope you aren't about to apologize for not being able to protect me," she sniffled against his shoulder. "I... I didn't know what I was getting into when I did what I did to protect _you_, but I don't regret it. You don't have to protect me, John, any more than I do you. And it's not your fault. I knew what I was doing, even if I didn't know what it would lead to."

"Jade," he buried his face in her hair and didn't speak for a few minutes, just holding her. Rose and Dave sat quietly nearby, and if they were leaning against each other or holding hands for comfort, well, no one saw anything.

* * *

To their credit, Jade found that none of her little patchwork family treated her too differently after that revelation—though if they knew the extent of what she'd been through, they might just put her on a pillowed palanquin and treat her like she was made of the thinnest glass known to exist. John did seem to walk on eggshells around her for a few days, but when she pulled him aside and hugged him hard and just told him not to, he stopped and returned to normal, even if she did sometimes still catch him casting concerned looks her way.

But overall, everything seemed to be going well. The time they saw a picture of her on a Wanted poster in a village wasn't even that surprising, at least to Jade. Rose had seemed taken aback, John had looked outraged, and Dave had stridden up to the wall and ripped it down. Jade had shaken her head at the gesture; he meant well, but those were probably all over the entire planet. Indeed, they had later come up on a second and third town where Jade Harley was a fugitive girl, most likely traveling with a band of three other dangerous people, at least one of whom was a mage of Breath who had helped her escape.

"At least the picture they used has long hair," she once joked to Rose, who grinned and ruffled her short locks.

"At least," she had agreed. "And at least the 'last seen in the woods outside Imperial City' is the most useless piece of information they could have provided."

"This is true!" Jade had laughed.

Now they were settling down for the night, not far from the ocean. It was a peaceful sound, the waves lapping upon the shore, and it reminded her of home. Well, one of her homes. The first one, where she and John had lived with their grandparents on an island before they moved to the Imperial City, where they met Dave and Rose.

"I'll take first watch," Rose offered now, as they all sat around a flickering fire under the stars. It was very peaceful.

"I'll have second," Dave said.

"I can take morning watch," John volunteered. "I haven't had it in a while."

"That leaves me with third," Jade smiled. "Dinner was good. Thanks, Rose!"

Rose inclined her head graciously, a small smile playing about her lips. "You're welcome."

"I'll help you with the dishes, then," John said, hopping to his feet. It was a little convention—first and last watch did the dishes, and everyone rotated dinner duty. The two in question gathered the plates, pot, and spatula and went to the wide, shallow edge of a nearby river that they had been following down to the sea. Doing so provided a convenient water source while camping out.

Dave and Jade were left sitting by the crackling warmth of the fire. "I guess we should go to bed," she eventually suggested.

"Yeah, we should," Dave agreed. While Rose and John finished the dishwashing duties, the two of them set up the tent and doused the fire, kicking off their sandy shoes and crawling into the shelter of the tent and the bedrolls that lay within. As was custom by now, Jade curled up next to Dave, who loosely draped an arm over her. Having someone next to her seemed to help with the nightmares, she'd found, and definitely was reassuring when she did have them and woke up terrified in the dark.

"Good night, Dave," Jade murmured. It had been, like any other, a long day of travel. Both of them fell asleep quickly, before John even entered the tent.

* * *

_Oh no, they were surrounded. The camp site in the clearing had been a bad idea, there were too many troops and drones! There was no option left to them, other than to be captured. Jade looked around desperately, seeing Rose cast spell after spell into the night as John's angry, desperate gusts cut like knives. Dave was fighting with a sword in each hand, locked in combat with soldier after soldier. But they just kept coming, there was nothing to do, she thought as she fired another carefully aimed bullet into the fray, seeing another soldier drop. Killing made her uneasy, but she would do _anything _for her friends, for her family. These soldiers were the reason that she was on the run already, they were the reason that Nanna and Grandpa were dead, they were the reason that Rose's mother and Dave's older brother were dead, they had started this._

_But she would be _damned_ if she let them hurt Dave, Rose, or John. No, not on her watch!_

_There was just one problem. Jade Harley knew her limits, and teleporting four people plus their belongings was definitely past those limits. People were hard to teleport. They moved, they breathed, they had all these complex processes that kept them alive, and if the molecules weren't put back together just right, they might die. Items were hard, too, but not as hard as people. _

_Three people, she could probably manage in a pinch. They would need some things to survive, though, she couldn't just teleport them away with no food, water, or shelter. _

_That left no room for a fourth person._

_When Jade yelled "Cover me!" and began to pool all her energy together to release a spell, she knew with a cold certainty what would happen. She would faint, and she would be captured. She already knew it was going to happen; future Dave had let it slip on accident once. From the point in the future he was from, they didn't have her back. For all she knew, she could spend the rest of her life—which might not be that long—in captivity. It was a terrifying prospect, but she was willing to do it, for them._

_She opened her eyes. Dave was indeed covering her, twin blades flashing like lights as he fought to keep her safe. But she was ready now, green power crackling around her. "I love you," she whispered. Dave whipped around for an instant, almost as if he heard her, which was unlikely given the clamor of battle. There was a gash running down his cheek, blood dripping from his jaw. It looked painful, and Jade felt a surge of rage engulf her. How _dare _they hurt her family! She cast a look to John, a hammer in his hand swinging powerfully, and to Rose, who was using her needle-daggers in a quick flurry. She would miss them._

_"__Harley! What the fuck—"_

_He never finished his sentence. Dave, John, and Rose, and some of their supplies all vanished in a green, electric flash. Jade fell to the ground, spent and panting as her vision swam—_

_-and suddenly she was awake, in a dark, dark room that smelled dank and of being deep underground, and she was alone except for the terrible, burning pain of feeling someone pull on her magic, feeling an excruciating agony as if the very fibers of her being were being stretched out past the breaking point as tears streamed down her face and her body was wracked with spasms of pain while she begged futilely for it to stop, please, please _please _make it stop, it hurt so much, please!_

_But she could hear Dave's voice, calling her name, was he here too? Please no, no, no, oh it hurt it hurt so much and it was so dark and—_

"Jade! Jade, wake up," Dave was saying, holding her gathered in his lap as he rocked her back and forth and wiped away the tears. "It was just another nightmare, you're okay, I've got you, shhh."

"...oh," was all she said before she flung her arms around him and began to sob. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with; thank goodness that Dave seemed to understand that. Despite his snarky exterior, he seemed to have almost endless patience for dealing with her night terrors; next to them, John snored away as Rose stirred.

"What's going on?" she moaned tiredly, pushing herself up on one arm.

"Nightmare," Dave answered. "It's cool, go back to sleep."

"Mmkay," Rose sighed. "Jade, you alright?"

"I'm g—getting there," Jade managed between hiccuping sobs.

"Hey," Dave said softly. "Let's go outside, hm?" When she nodded, anything to get out of this stiflingly dark tent, he carefully stood and carried her out to the sandy camp. The moonlight illuminated the ocean strikingly, and the twinkling stars were as peaceful as the soughing waves. Jade watched it all and felt her racing heart start to calm, felt her tears begin to subside. She lifted her head from Dave's shoulder to look around the silvery landscape, wiping at her eyes a few times ineffectively before leaning back into him.

He settled them both down into a sitting position in the sand, holding her close and gently singing that same lullaby from the night of her rescue. When her soft sniffles quieted, he trailed a hand through her short hair and almost hesitantly asked, "Do you... do you want to talk about it?"

Saying "only if you hold me really tight" would be redundant, considering that he was already doing that at the moment, so she nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I... it was the night I was taken, you know, the last time we saw each other, but sort of in slow-motion and I could see everything like I can now in a way, which made it really sad..." She hesitated. No one really knew the extent of her ordeals, though Rose probably suspected. She had a strange way of combining her analytical mind with the powers she got as a seer and a Light mage to piece together information from dreams and stories. Sometimes when Jade woke Rose up with nightmares instead of Dave or John, it led to unexpectedly philosophical conversations. They were an enjoyable distraction, at the very least. Really, all of her family of friends was good at keeping her from wallowing in despair.

"That's it?" Dave asked, prodding her just a little. Jade wanted to pull away to study his face, but the desire to stay just like she was was stronger, so she just hugged him a little tighter.

"Um... no," she began slowly. How much of it should she tell him? "There was more. About the... the part that I haven't really ever told you guys about yet."

She felt him tense, his arms stiffening around her. "The part you haven't told us about...?"

"Yes," she murmured. "I'm sorry, I just was never too comfortable saying it and I didn't want to worry you even more and—"

"Jade," he interrupted seriously. "You can't just say 'what you haven't told me' and then not explain that. I'm already worried."

"Okay... okay, I'm sorry. I—I don't know how to say it, it's just... when they captured me—I mean, they already knew I'm Space, they saw me disappear you all right—but see Space is useful for them because they have all these things they can get you to do... um, I mean, like helping them build weapons and make them bigger or pack more into them and things like that—or other stuff I mean, not just that—but they need really, really strong Space mages to do that, or a team of them, but we're rare you know so it's really hard to assemble a team... I know, I know, I'm babbling, I'm sorry Dave, but I just... I wasn't strong enough for what they wanted to get me to do, originally, but they had this experimental technology thing, I don't know how it works or what it does exactly but it connects to your magic source and stretches it or something, it just makes it so much more but it hurts, it really, really hurts, and—" she babbled wildly in a rush, spilling it out. "And that's why I could do the thing I did earlier and that's why it hurt so much and that's what I often have nightmares about because the treatment cell they kept me in was underground and absolutely pitch black and I hate it so, so much—"

Dave cut her off with a crushing embrace. "Well, fuck," he breathed. "Oh, Jade..."

She didn't say anything, just held on to him as if her life depended on it. "Can you do something for me?"

"Anything," he replied without missing a beat. A little smile appeared on her face.

"Could you... could you tell John and Rose for me? I think Rose suspects but I don't know how to approach John about it, but he has every right to know, too..."

"Yeah. I can do that."

The wind blew softly from the ocean, bringing her back from her memories to her serene surroundings. Jade turned her head slightly to press a kiss to his shoulder, smiling a very tiny, tentative and soft smile. "Thanks, Dave. I love you."

"Love you too, Harley."

* * *

It was a little over a week later when everything went to pieces again.

Dave and Jade had had a bit of a busy day. Jade had finally decided to test the Time aspect of her theory when Dave approached her about a time loop that was as of yet unfinished, and that required her presence: the one that had taken them both back to the night that she'd been saved. She had to use her powers to confuse the sensors from chasing the past Jade so that past Dave could serve as an adequate distraction—she had to use her magic to 'hide' him from sensors, which at the time she thought would be beneficial but she now knew actually was what drew the drones after him. It had been a frightening trip, but she'd clutched present-Dave's hand tightly the whole time as he assured her this was how it had played out, and then they nipped over to tell past Rose to tell past Jade that past Dave was okay before returning. Amazingly, nothing went wrong on the adventure, and they returned with a relatively unremarkable tale for John and Rose by day's end.

The end of the day was when things fell apart, though.

Jade had been leaning against a fallen tree, John lying in the grass with his head in her lap as she played with his hair and they both watched the sun set behind the hills, when suddenly Rose let out a cry of pure dismay and leapt up from her position in a deep trance.

"Oh no," John sat up quickly as Jade straightened, nearly smacking his head on her chin. "What's wrong?"

"This is bad, very bad," Rose shook her head, eyes wide in uncharacteristic alarm. "I think they really, _really _want you back, Jade. Every auxillary unit on this planet has been mobilized to scour the wilderness for us. Is this because you're the only one who survived...?"

"Probably," Jade said in a small voice, shrinking away. Every one of the auxillary units...? They were everywhere! How could they get out of this situation, how could they run with nowhere to run to? It was a dead end, there was nowhere to put her friends so that they'd be safe! They'd hidden too well for the past two months; it must have made her tormentors angry and desperate to bring her back to their awful captivity.

"Fuck," Dave said, eloquently summing up the entire situation in one word. "It's only a matter of time then. We can't avoid the entire fucking planet forever."

"Do you think we could get offworld?" John asked, trying to come up with a solution quickly.

"Egbert, do you know how heavily policed spaceports are? How the hell would we even get in? We'd be a little conspicuous, you know, either running in with no documented tickets or appearing in a flash of sparkly green light with a girl who hurts so bad she can't stand," the Time mage snapped. "That is the dumbest suggestion I have heard in a while."

"Okay, okay, it was just a thought!" John said defensively. "That's more than I see you contributing."

"Guys, please don't fight," Jade begged.

Both of them sighed. "Sorry. We're just a bit stressed, you know," John apologized.

"It's okay... Hm. Could we try to hide in the cities and blend in?" Jade offered with an apologetic shrug. "It probably won't work, will it..."

"Probably not," Rose sighed. "I can't tell what we should do, it's strange. I don't—the visions are very confusing right now." She brushed her hair behind her ear and pursed her lips, staring into the distance for a few moments as she tried to sort through all the images that were clouding her mind's eye.

"That might be because we have all these options on what path to take to our inevitable doom," Dave replied.

"We could just... keep running, I guess," John sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Do we have any other choice?"

"Not really, it would seem," Rose shook her head with a frown, casting a concerned look to Jade. "We'll do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe and together."

It was the day that marked the beginning of the end.

* * *

They had been discovered. Like Dave had said, it was only really a matter of time, but it was still awful to see it happen for the last time, to see the armies of drones come pouring out of the sky and black out the moon at midnight. Jade hated it, hated every second of it as she watched, frozen in fear.

"_Surrender. You are outnumbered and surrounded, you have no chance of survival or escape. Surrender or be taken by force, dead or alive,_" announced a menacing, metallic voice. Just like that night, just like that night.

Jade felt a sob of fear rise in her throat and quickly swallowed it, feeling disgusted with herself for even thinking about crying. It was time for thinking and fighting, not crying, because she was _not _going down without a fight. Her friends, her family, they were worth fighting for, and so was her own freedom! These damned drones and stupid soldiers were not going to take them from her again. They had found her, so she could use the powers they'd so kindly bestowed upon her to fight them.

"Yeah, have fun with that," Dave called back mockingly. It was the signal for the commencement of the battle for their lives.

A bullet whizzed past her ear. Jade immediately fired a shot in return in the direction of the soldier who'd shot at her and felt a sick sort of satisfaction when it found its mark in his head and he fell like a sack of potatoes. Another one rushed her, blade held out, and just as she was about to shoot him at point-blank range he stopped and fell, revealing Rose wielding dual enchanted needle-daggers. She nodded tersely at Jade once and fired another spell into the night, downing a drone that was lighting the forest around them on fire.

Jade looked up. A legion of drones was flying into the air above them from the northwest. She allowed herself a smirk, bracing her body against a tree and flicking her fingers at the red, red machines. With a green zap, they vanished, now flying somewhere over the Imperial City and the palace there. A fiery jolt of agony zapped through her, but she forced herself to fire another shot at the soldiers that saw her in her moment of weakness. It went wide, hitting one of them in the shoulder, when suddenly a powerful gust of wind blasted them high into the sky and let them fall. It was a gruesome way to die—well, most battle-related deaths were gruesome—and Jade felt no satisfaction from it, just grim relief. John held out a hand and hauled her upright.

"Be careful," he warned earnestly, then ducked when she fired a shot directly over his shoulder. "What the—"

She pointed at the soldier whose knife had been about to enter his back. "Speak for yourself, John!"

"Thanks, Jade," he flashed her a quick grin before rising into the air again, rushing to face a drone trying to finish the job of the one Rose had shot down.

They could fight and fight, but she knew with that same cold clarity that they would not win this battle. There would be heaps of the dead and even more of the wounded, and the outcome would be the same.

White-hot pain exploded in her arm, and Jade screamed. Damn her moment of distraction! An axe had heavily cut into her forearm, which was bleeding all over her. Shit, shit, shit, it hurt and that was a lot of blood! She had to do something before she was incapacitated.

With a lot more effort than usual, she fired a bullet at the soldier who was going for the killing blow now. It flew true, and he fell at her feet with a thud. At least head shots were quick deaths, she thought. It was cold comfort when she was taking a life.

And they just kept coming, and coming, and coming. There was no end to the flood of people who were going to kill or be killed. They all wanted to see her back behind bars and to hurt her beyond measure again and there was no way she could get out of it! It was like this whole universe was set up against them, she thought, blinking back angry tears born of helplessness.

Unbidden, as she waved her uninjured arm at a soldier that was sneaking up on Dave to vanish him to the ocean, the unrefined and crazy idea that she'd had a few weeks ago drifted into her thoughts again. It was a thought that at least bore consideration now. This universe was against them... would another one be better?

She weighed her options. The four of them could stay here, fight to the end, and die or go to awful lives in captivity in the end. She could teleport them out again and postpone it by a few days, weeks at the most, but that wouldn't get them far.

Or, she could take a risk, and maybe find a better life.

"Dave!" she screamed, seeing him nearby. Her arm was killing her with waves of pain, and she dearly hoped it was just wooziness from that pain and not her feeling faint from blood loss that was making her a bit dizzy. He dispatched the soldier in front of him methodically and turned to her, sprinting over the few yards separating them at the sight of all the blood.

"Shit, we've gotta patch that up," he muttered, dropping to one knee and tearing a strip from her skirt. Jade vanished the head from a soldier who tried to raise a gun to shoot him in the back and winced, both from the pain and from the gruesome sight. "It'll have to do for now," Dave said as he tightly wrapped the strip around her arm. Jade tried not to scream again from the pain of the pressure.

"Dave," she said as he picked up his swords again. "I need you to cover me for a minute." Just like that night.

The color drained from his face. "What are you doing, Jade?" he demanded urgently.

"Trust me! We don't have time," she shook her head. "I promise, I'm not leaving anyone behind, including myself."

Without waiting for his reply, she closed her eyes and dove deep, deep, deep down into the very bottom of her well of power. It was titanic; for all intents and purposes other than this one, she may as well not have had a limit to it for all that it mattered.

It took several heartbeats for her to gather every last ounce of her strength. She would need all of it, all the power of the huge, bright star she carried within her. When she opened her eyes, she could tell she was emanating light just as bright as it felt, which was as bright as day. There was Rose, firing another spell into the sky; there was John, blowing apart a squadron of backup drones that just arrived, and there was Dave, right in front of her, wasting no time in dispatching the soldiers and robots that were distracted or visually impaired by her light.

She kept a tight hold on them with one little tiny bit of her immense power, feeling strangely detached from the world already. She knew what she was doing, she was so desperate to be pushed to this, but she didn't feel any of the pain or desperation or worry or exhaustion, just a permeating calm. With the rest of her strength, Jade raised her arms and, with a fantastic flash of light and a huge, dull roar, ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe.

* * *

_AN: And here I present to you the longest chapter I have written so far, sitting pretty at 7036 words. I just wanted to throw that out there because I am proud of this. Anyway! So here is a bit more light shed on the beta kids' story. They were in a different universe to begin with, not just a possible different time! And we also see some more of what happened to Jade. And if you put those together, you see why I had to do what I did to her, because otherwise she wouldn't have been able to hop universes. _

_On another note, I do apologize for not having this ready by Thursday night like I promised. Life finally intervened in my happy world of fic-writing... man, auspisticizing is hard, especially between two of your good friends who used to be total besties, literal moirails if I ever saw them. But enough about me and my life! Alright, so the winners of my little giveaway are: LordPeanut, Snowy the Sane Fangirl, RougeofDoom, and GoggleHeadOtaku. The rules are simple enough!_

_First, no M-rated things. I don't do well with graphic violence or anything like that, and it's personal preference to avoid smut. Second, fandom is Homestuck, and preferred characters are either alpha or beta kids. No incestuous ships. I will write in either canonverse or in an AU, and I would be super happy if you asked me to write things in this AU! Third, I reserve the right to take requests on a case-by-case basis. Okay, you can send them in, either in reviews or PM, and thank you all very much, my dears!_

_LordPeanut - Well, there's nothing wrong with being Lord of all the legumes with hard shells? I feel like I'm missing something here... oh well. Yes, AR! He's a really interesting character. I think I enjoy writing him more than I enjoy writing Dirk. He does care, I think, but he's got weird ways of showing it. Well, darkness in fics is interesting to read and write-you get to see what your characters do in those situations-but in real life? It is suffering. Oh well. Hahaha so, what do you think of the relations between alphas and betas now? I won't say whether you're right or wrong but it's really cool to see what you think!_

_Snowy - Good to know. I think that most species of nuts are related to legumes though? I'm not sure, I'm more into biochemistry than plant phys :P Oh nooo your hair! Well, I bet it's gorgeous either way haha. And hey, I gave out ice cream last chapter! XD (Or should I say ;/ ? I'm totally going to use that from now on. :D ) No, it's not selfish. I hope I can get back into quick updates this week! Roxy and Jake are definitely not having it easy... xD I was thinking about making another 'roll' joke but I didn't make a daily update yet... oh well._

_Thank you for reading and reviewing, everyone! Um, virtual confection today is... ras malai! _


	20. Chapter 20: Jane - Imprisoned

Consciousness came slowly, but with the feeling of a great rushing roar. Confusion overwhelmed Dirk as he sat up, propping himself up on one hand, and looked around, horror dawning on him. So, his fears had finally become reality.

God _damn,_ but his head really fucking hurt right about then. Dirk scowled at the dark cell as he sat irritably and in pain, looking around with a growing sense of "well shit". No, wait, that was a lie, it was more of a growing sense of uneasy dread as the realization of exactly where he was and what that meant sank in. Was this a bad dream? Nope. It was reality.

Had he mentioned "well, shit" yet?

Alright, time for a recap, he supposed. It wasn't like he had much else to do, sitting in this dank cell with its thick stone walls and stiflingly stuffy air; if he had to guess, he would have said that it was somewhere underground. The march had been what landed him here, obviously, even though it had started off beautifully and run throughout most of the day with widespread popular support. There had been even more turnout than he'd expected—maybe not as much as he'd hoped for in an ideal world, but it was still very good—and it seemed that even if there was no direct response from the Condensce that day, the political climate might shift thanks to their efforts. To be sure, it would be a long, arduous, and risky process, but at the same time there was so much potential for change, change for the better.

Welp. That was probably fucked now. Unless Jane could carry a revolution by herself, and the three of them didn't distract themselves by trying to figure out where the hell he was. Wherever he was, anyway.

Somehow, Dirk doubted that they'd do that. At least, he sure as fuck wouldn't even think about leaving one of them in captivity, however much he might realize that it was the more cost-effective option to keep momentum going. From a completely objective standpoint, the strategic thing to do would be for Jane to use him as martyr to drum up sympathy support, too.

Dirk didn't really want to spend the rest of his life in a cell beneath the palace of the Empress. He definitely didn't want to have his life cut short by her whims either, and he didn't relish the prospect of never seeing Roxy, Jake, or Jane again. But if it was what he had to do for the greater good—for _their _good—then it was what he would do.

Fuck this headache.

No, really. Fuck it.

Was it general prison etiquette not to provide captives with even a proper bed after you clubbed them down? Clubs really hurt. A bed would be nice. Actually, Dirk would have been ecstatic if they gave him a fucking _pillow_ at this point. Or some medicine. Medicine would be just as nice as a bed.

But wait, it was the Condensce. Giving prisoners medicine or beds or even pillows would have taken money that she could have been using to build another goddamn swimming pool in one of her fifty palaces around Skaia. Of course she would never do that. Had he mentioned how much he detested the Condensce yet? He really hated the Condensce.

The last thing he could remember of the march was seeing Jane start to run away; the club had come out of nowhere and whacked him squarely in the side of the head. Ow. Shit. That might have been his fault for turning his back, but still. Fucking hell.

With a sigh of disgust with the Condensce, with his situation, and with himself, Dirk rubbed a hand across his face and leaned against the cool stone wall behind him, wondering exactly what might be in store. They would probably want to know all sorts of things about the revolutionary movement, like who the main contributors were, who Jane was in particular—the sympathetic Masked Maiden that everyone loved would make an excellent corpse for them to parade around, wouldn't she?—and where the hidden plans and things were located. The thinning of his lips was the only outward indication of the surge of rage that rose within him at the thought of her troops hurting his friends; if the Condensce thought that he would eventually give way and tell her, she had another think coming. He might splinter, but he would never break.

He just had to play his cards right and keep himself strong, that was the key. And also figure out a way to think over this pounding headache. That could be useful, his brain was going to be his biggest weapon here. Damn, he probably wouldn't be seeing his sword again, after all this. It was a good sword, one of his brother's, too. What a shame. It was either in a pile of confiscated goods or in the mess of the square left by the skirmish with the soldiers.

How long had he been in a cell? Hours, days? There was no way to tell time in here, unless he was going to sit and count seconds. That would be pretty pointless though; timekeeping wouldn't help him either get out of this place or find a way to cope with the entire thing.

There was seriously nothing to do in his cell other than think about how badly he'd fucked up. Was that supposed to be some kind of tactic, he wondered with derision, scoffing at the idea. This was stupid.

Well, he might as well inspect his surroundings. There was no point in putting it off, at least. It might give him something to do. Cracking open his eyes, Dirk brushed his sideswept bangs from his forehead and looked around himself. Four stone walls, a relatively high ceiling, dirty stone floor, three stairs leading to a door set in the corner, shackles against the back wall, and a chamber pot. That seemed to be it, really. Though it was a little bit surpising that he wasn't shackled to the wall, if the chains were already in place. Maybe his captors didn't think he'd be worth the trouble.

With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet, stumbling slightly as his head protested the movement with a wave of pain, and braced himself against the wall for a second. Once he'd regained his balance, Dirk walked slowly over to the stairs that led to his cell door, examining the metal-reinforced wood set with a small grate no larger than his face and a similarly small flap, presumably for sliding in trays of food. Peering out into the torch-lit stony hallway beyond, he saw lines of identical cell doors in either direction; presumably guards were posted at either end of the hall. There was no escape from here, at least not from this particular location.

He ambled back to the spot on the floor he'd been sitting in and sank back down, tenderly feeling the side of his head where the club had connected—wait fuck ow that hurt, don't touch it. Hopefully there wasn't going to be a concussion, he was going to need all his wits about him if he was going to make it through the next...however long he would be here.

It was going to be a long while, he guessed.

But it wasn't that long, only a few days by his estimation, until two guards came and whisked him away from the oh-so-cozy confines of his prison cell.

* * *

Jane was pretty sure this was the most terrified she'd been in her life. Either right now, or a week ago when she'd thought Jake was going to die in her arms. One person dying in her arms was bad enough—unbidden, her thoughts flashed back to the little girl from the dark districts—but two, and both of them she couldn't save? Never, she would never let that happen.

Wow, that was a new low, Jane thought with bitter sarcasm. She was thinking of other things that terrified her beyond belief to distract herself from the one she was living right now. It was dim, dusty, and dank in this dungeon, and she did not like any of those things. Hopefully there were no rats, at least. At any rate, she hadn't noticed any in the first few days—it had been days, right? For all she knew the somewhat periodic times when trays of food appeared were scheduled just to mess with her internal sense of time. Maybe she'd only been in here for a single day and the Batterwitch's cronies were just trying to screw with her head.

Jane really, really hated being stuck underground or in whatever this cell was. It made her claustrophobic and jumpy and anxious at all hours, and it wasn't as if she needed more emotional problems on top of her terror and grief and worry for Dirk! She still hadn't seen hide or hair of him since being captured; she was very afraid something bad might have happened to him. What if that blow hadn't just knocked him out, what if he was dead? Or, barring that, what if they were torturing him right now? What if—

_No, Crocker, stop that. Don't go down the what-if road. It doesn't get you anywhere_, she told herself sternly. Worrying about Dirk did keep her from wallowing in despair about herself, but it was hardly a better pastime. The thing was that just sitting alone with no human contact was really starting to get to her head! She needed someone around, even if they were hostile guards. But the guards were invisible, if they were even there to begin with; everything seemed to be primarily operated by magic, by mages who hadn't escaped from the clutches of the College and the Witch.

The crux of the matter came down to this: Jane knew herself well enough to know that she did not do well with extended periods of solitude. Shy as she might be around people she didn't know well, she very much thrived on company, especially that of the people she was closest to, like Jake, Roxy, and Dirk. This protracted isolation that the Batterwitch seemed intent on enforcing upon her was going to be bad; she needed life around her to keep herself from feeling claustrophobic, lonely, or panicked, at various intervals that seemed to cycle endlessly. Life, movement, renewal, change—all of these were things she needed, not this timeless eternity that made her want to clutch her head and scream. Loneliness was a powerful weapon, and right now it was directed at her, used to play her fears against her mind and her innermost thoughts.

The worst part, though, was that it was working, and she could feel it working, but yet had no power to stop it. She was becoming more desperate by the hour to just get out of here! Was that an intentional tactc on the part of the Batterwitch, just to get to her head and make her confused and despairing? Jane didn't want to admit it—she would fight it—but it was probably working. She _hated _confined spaces and being alone and not having the ability to observe the world, not to mention that she was terrified of the prospect of being captured and here she was, in a combination of all of her fears!

Hours passed in this fashion, in which Jane was victim to her own despondent thoughts with no outlet for her fright or gloom. Finally, though, instead of a tray of bland, tasteless gruel and a glass of water, there were three hard raps on her cell door—

_Thud, thud, thud._

She sat up, one hand loosely fisted over her heart, which was pounding in her throat. At last, they had come for her! What were they going to do? They would want to know everything about the revolution, they would want to break her spirit so that she could never go back to being a public figure who stood against them, she had to be strong for Jake and for Roxy and for Dirk and everyone else! She had to be strong for that poor little girl who had died in her arms—she'd never even learned the child's name. But she would carry her legacy, she had to!

The door opened. The knocking was probably some strange courtesy that let her know they were coming in, though why on earth they would want to do that was beyond her. Two soldiers, lightly armored and clad in white and green, entered the small cell and stood in front of her where she sat cowering on the floor.

"Prisoner," one of them said. Jane, petrified, didn't respond, thoughts of terror furiously running through her mind as she tried to quell them with the ideal of strength.

The sharp _crack_ across her face from a painful slap got her attention; with a gasp as her hand flew to her cheek, she looked up as tears pricked her eyes. "I—I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me, please..."

"Prisoner. Will you come willingly?" Now that she had given him attention, the soldier's tone had turned almost polite, if brusque.

"I—yes, I will," she hung her head. There was no use in resisting, they could easily overpower her. She wasn't a fighter, and anyway there was nowhere to run.

"Follow," he said curtly, and with his companion led her from the room.

* * *

They led Dirk through a veritable maze of corridors, up and down staircases and through multitudes of hallways. Apparently this facility was a big one, and a rich one, judging by the numerous tapestries and rugs and paintings that adorned the rooms. Strangely, he noticed most decoration was green, with a truly ridiculous number of clocks, not the abhorrent fuschia that the Batterwitch was known for. Was this the domain of some high-ranked underling of Her Imperious Condescension who just really liked green?

His hands, surprisingly, were unbound; the soldiers had asked him directly if he would come willingly or not. Since there was no reason either to be honest and say that no, he would not be willing and just get his hands bound, or to be stupid and try to escape when he definitely didn't have the upper hand—his hand was so low right now it was probably underneath the depths of hell—and doing either would be incredibly fucking _stupid_, he agreed to come quietly wherever they would take him.

So here he was, walking down yet another lavishly carpeted hallway, a guard behind him and another in front of him, with no idea what was in store. A grand, gilded doorway was at the end, a ticking clock set in the top of the frame. Two more guards were posted at either side; as Dirk's small procession approached, they pulled open the doors. Behind them was a luxuriant sitting room, with a small, uncomfortable-looking velvet padded couch sitting next to an armchair and a low, round coffee table in front of a warm hearthfire. It looked strangely _... welcoming _for a place that a political prisoner that was an enemy of the state was led to. Beyond the couch and fireplace was another set of gilt doors, and a few shelves of books as well as more clocks.

"You will wait here," one of his escorts ordered. "Do not try anything, or she will be punished for your mistakes."

"'_She_'?" Dirk asked sardonically. "Sorry, dude, I'm a 'he', actually, and the pronoun you're looking for is 'you'. I guess you didn't learn proper Skaian when the Witch brought you here."

The guard cast him a strange look, somewhere between pitying and irritated, but did not reply. Instead, he continued relaying his commands. "In precisely fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds, the meeting will commence. Until then, your time is to be spent as you wish, so long as you do not damage or intrude upon property."

"So that means I just sit here and stare at the fire, right?" he shook his head. "You could have just gotten me in fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds."

The guard didn't deign to respond, instead turning on his heel and marching smartly out of the room. Dirk sat down heavily on the sofa, lounging against the backrest before reconsidering and lying down. At last, a cushion for his poor head, even though it was feeling much better by now.

A few seconds ticked by—literally; he could hear them passing from all the weirdly synchronized clocks.

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. _

The door opened again. Surprised, he sat up—that definitely had not been fifteen minutes, let alone fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds—and froze.

There was another person admitted into the chamber, small with her face downcast so that he couldn't quite see it, but there was no doubt about who she was as the guards slammed the massive door behind her. Shock was the only thing that kept him from having leapt up the second he saw her, shock and horror. As it was, she stood trembling in the same spot as he stared, unnoticed, until she let out something that sounded like a muffled whimper or a strangled sob and slowly sank to her knees, covering her face with her hands.

That did it; the horrified stupor that kept him immobile on the sofa broke and he found himself able to move, to speak again. "... Jane?"

Her head jerked up as if pulled on a string. "Dirk!" She flew across the few meters between them and flung her arms around him, holding on tightly. He returned the embrace, clinging to her just as desperately.

"I don't understand, how are you here? You shouldn't be here," he murmured into her hair. "You should be safe at home, not here, not you, never here."

"I could say the same for you," she mumbled with just a hint of tartness. "When they hit you, I saw, and, well... I didn't think, as usual," she stopped to let out a laugh that sounded suspiciously close to tears, "and the next thing I knew, after I had tackled that one soldier, I was in a cell."

She had tackled a soldier. Jane Crocker, the little baker girl with a passion for healing, had attacked a soldier. For him. And now she was paying the price for his errors. Jane was in the clutches of the Batterwitch, the one place where he couldn't protect her! This was bad, this was worse than bad, this was _really fucking terrifying as shit_. He couldn't protect her here!

Oh, _fuck_. This was what the damn guard had meant when he said that if Dirk fucked up, they would hurt a "her". They were going to use Jane against him. Fuck, fuck, fuck! How was he supposed to choose between protecting Jane and protecting Roxy and Jake?

"Dirk?" she asked timidly, a tinge of worry coloring her voice. "Are you alright?"

For the first time since he'd seen her come into the room, he looked at her, pulling away enough to meet her concerned blue eyes, though he didn't let go of her completely. There was an angry red mark on her cheek; it looked like it would turn into a nasty bruise soon. "What's this?" he asked, cupping her cheek in one hand so gently that there was no indication of the sudden rage flowing through him, amplifying the dread even further.

"I—one of the guards hit me," she said lamely before she buried her face in his chest again. "Dirk..."

"Shh," he soothed, kissing the top of her head as he held her as close as he could. "Please don't cry." Even though they would probably be ripped apart soon and then given some of the worst dilemmas of their lives, if his dark suspicions were correct, he was damned well going to comfort her while he could! It was actually surprisingly generous of their captors to even allow them this time, and he was going to treasure every second of it even though waves of _fuck fuck fuck fuck shit shit shit this is bad oh hell no _kept rolling through him the more it sank in that Jane was here, Jane was really here.

They spent the next ten minutes and nineteen seconds clinging desperately to each other, until the secondary doors opened with no fanfare and an extremely pale figure, dressed impeccably in green and white, though he carried himself more imperiously than the soldiers and had more ornate clothing, strode in.

"Ah, splendid," he said in an oily-smooth voice as he approached them. "I see you are both quite acquainted. But of course, I already knew that," he laughed almost obnoxiously. Dirk decided that he did not like this man, whoever he was, and protectively tightened his arms around Jane, stepping ever so slightly in front of her.

"I trust you have been enjoying the accomodations," the newcomer continued loftily. "Your treatment depends on my orders, after all, and I do try to be an excellent host. You may call me... _Doctor Scratch_."

* * *

_AN: Life advice: don't forget that you have anemia if you have anemia. It sucks and you lie on the floor feeling dizzy and questioning your life. And then you force yourself to get on your bed and at least type out the rest of a chapter because at least typing's not THAT much effort. Anyway, here's Dirk for you! I'm actually kind of happy with how this one came out, surprisingly. And... weirdly, I don't have any comment really? Must be because I'm so tired. ._

_LordBeannut - what if I just called you that from now on hahaha I mean, it rhymes with peanut xD I'm sorry I laugh at my own bad jokes. Anyway, yeah! AR is really cool to think about and write because he's just the secondary Dirk. All he is is a pair of glasses and he _knows _that. I can't imagine being reconciled to an existence like that. Hahaha yes :P I'm glad no one saw it coming though, I was sitting here giggling like ... like a nut B) at the conjecturing about temporal dislocation and such. _

_Snowy - Ahhh ras malai is an Indo-Pakistani dessert made of milk, ricotta cheese, sugar, and cardamom and it is SO GOOD omg and also really easy to make! /end spiel/ I think we can just use the stupid face ironically. ;/ And you know what? I updated so fast by neglecting my schoolwork...oooops, that's not going to happen again. I am so very happy that my plot twist was well-received! :D I tried to drop hints subtly and I'm quite glad they made sense in retrospect. It is getting very suspenseful haha so I'll try not to drop off from updates without warning for more than a week. The beta kids' story is a fun one! You might get a few more flashbacks later, but once I finish this story I'm planning to write a shorter one about them up to what we see here, so I won't reveal everything. ;/_

_Pony - Omg hi! Wow, that made me feel really good about myself :o thank you so so much! I don't mind my amount of attention though, it'd be cool to have more feedback on what to fix and what to keep doing but so long as someone's reading this and enjoying it, I'm happy! Don't worry about the fic giveaway, more than likely I'll do it again at some point and you can get in on the action then. :D _

_Oh, and in general, if you guys have tumblrs I did make a blog to post updates on my progress with this story. So if something comes up that'll affect when I can get the next chapter out, or if there's other pertinent information, it'll show up there. It's .com (no space, you know the drill), or there's a link in my profile. Cheers!_


	21. Chapter 21: Roxy - Paths Not Traveled

Roxy groaned and lifted her head from her desk groggily. She had accidentally fallen asleep on her textbook _again_, and now her cheek hurt from being pressed against the hard surface. And her pencil was still in her hand, too! This was kind of ridiculous.

Sadly, learning did not work by diffusion, and she remained just as clueless on the mysteries of calculus as ever. All she had now was a hell of a screwed up sleep schedule and probably some bad grades coming up. Of course everything came to a head during finals week, right?

She didn't even _care _that much about finals, not with Jane and Dirk in the clutches of this shadowy "Lord English", but she had to study and make good grades so no one would think something was up, because Roxy Lalonde the witty university student always made good grades now that she'd managed to get better about her alcoholism.

Speaking of that whole alcohol thing... it was so very tempting to go grab a bottle of wine and turn back down that road, let it dull her mind and deaden the pain and make her feel a bit better. But no, she couldn't, Jane and Dirk would be so, so disappointed in her if she did—they had been instrumental in getting her out of that void in the first place, and she was stronger than that! She couldn't just fall again, she couldn't. It presented her with an awful dilemma though, and she had probably wasted hours clutching her head and agonizing over whether she should turn back to the bottle to temporarily assuage her aching heart.

No, it shouldn't even be a choice, really—she was going to prove to herself and everyone else just how fucking stubborn she could be. She was _not _going to let herself go into a downward spiral, she was not. If she did that, then there would be pretty much no way she could help Jane or Dirk, and since this whole mess was kind of her fault to begin with, she had to fix it and that meant she could not go fuck up now. So as another thought of that tempting bottle sitting in the kitchen drifted through her head, Roxy made up her mind.

Standing so quickly that her chair almost fell backwards, she determinedly walked to first her odds-and-ends drawer and pulled out some screws, a drill, a screwdriver, and a lock. With these tools in hand, she marched to the kitchen and shoved all the wine, vodka, whatever alcoholic beverages she had, into one cabinet. And then, she installed a lock on this cabinet, sealing them away in the darkness. The key... she paused. What to do with the key?

Well, on those terrible nights when she was feeling lower than dreadful, she never wanted to call her friends because they probably had something better to do with their time than deal with a sad drunk. So perhaps that was the way to put the key somewhere she wasn't going to get at it when she wasn't thinking clearly—she could give it to one of them. Well, at least she could give it to the only one who she hadn't completely fucked over yet. She'd just have to remember to bring it with her next time she went to see Jake, and until then she had to keep her head above water and just remember that going back to the depths of her own personal hell was never going to be worth it, even when she thought she could delude herself into thinking so.

_Wow, Ro-Lal, way to get super deep on yourself out of nowhere, _she thought to herself with a snort. Maybe she should pick up something more productive than drinking, if she wasn't going to be able to make herself study tonight. Even though she really, really ought to study, because Jane and Dirk would probably be disappointed with her if she failed calculus. Especially Dirk, because for some godforsaken reason that boy actually enjoyed fiddling with numbers and weird notation and whatever weird shit was involved in this math.

Standing in the kitchen and leaning against the countertop, her back to the cabinet while her fingers played idly with the key, turning it over and over in her hand, Roxy allowed herself a little smile of reminiscence at the thought of last winter's semester exams, when Dirk had shown up at her door one morning, his fair hair tousled by the wind that almost dramatically blew his orange scarf out behind him as he stood there in a dark coat, and all but dragged her out across campus to his apartment because he had a government project that he wanted her help with, and he already knew without her saying a word that derivatives were kind of going over her head. It may or may not have been her fault for not paying attention in grade school classes or the beginning of the college semester, but that was when she was having the worst of her alcohol problems. She was past that now, at least.

At the time, she'd laughed as he grabbed her hand and hauled her out the door as soon as she'd gotten an appropriate number of oversized sweaters on her body. They'd arrived at his apartment and the first thing she did was make some hot coffee, with a copious amount of sugar added into her mug that made Dirk wrinkle his nose in distaste and say, "Why are you emptying half of my fucking sugarpot into a single mug," in that funny way of his. Then, after the obligatory it's-cold-as-_fuck_-outside-so-we're-going-to-snuggle-on-the-couch-for-a-bit session, which was also known as the oh-for-fuck's-sake-Dirk-why-is-your-couch-covered-in-robots session, they'd settled down into the usual work routine. It was always laid-back and fun, even if Dirk liked to push her until she wanted to pick up the textbook and bludgeon him over the head with it sometimes.

But shit, there was nothing she wouldn't give right now if it would get her stupid infuriating best friend back here safely. Just like there was nothing she wouldn't give to bring her silly and endearing best friend back, too.

... Yeah, there was pretty much no way she was going to be able to sit down and study without her mind wandering off down memory lane, was there. What a _pain_. (That was a silly pun, too. A pun that sort of made her want to smack herself because this was no laughing matter, but it was kind of literally painful as well as being a pain in the ass.) But at least there had to be something she could do to keep herself from turning back to the darkest days of her life for supposed salvation.

Her eyes settled on a picture of her mother, framed and set on the corner table. Rose Lalonde had been a lovely, poised and elegant lady with a wit sharper than the knife in Roxy's boot. Her books had been bestsellers until they were declared taboo; she'd disappeared not long after the ban had been extended to her own life—she was charged with treason, and had been executed alongside Dirk's older brother a few years ago, when Roxy and Dirk were thirteen.

It wasn't until about two or three years ago that Roxy and Dirk had found out that the only reason that they'd not been persecuted themselves was that Rose and Dave had worked some magic with the system to erase all records of either of the two of them having family members. For all intents and purposes, since Roxy never knew her father and Dirk never had any parents to speak of, just Dave, the two of them were orphans.

It was only due to the chaotic lack of jurisdiction anywhere that they had stayed together and all but been a family for each other, with lots of help from Jane and Jake. But it didn't help her grief, or how much she still missed her mother.

But now that she thought... there was something that her mom had taught her from an early age. It was therapeutic and a balm to her harried mind, and certainly better for her than drinking was.

Roxy walked to the largest room in her apartment, which she kept almost devoid of furniture save around the edges just for this purpose, and turned on the music player. With a deep, almost but not quite steady breath, she squared her shoulders, raised her arms, and pointed her toes, and began to dance.

* * *

Later that same night, after she'd danced until her arms and shoulders were too tired to maintain proper frame and the room was spinning after one too many waltzes without pause, Roxy sprawled on her bed, her wavy hair fanned around her head and a few textbooks and papers, half-covered in doodles, lay scattered about. It had sort of worked, at least, and she'd made _some _progress on the review. But she was stuck on one problem, it was way too late to go over to any of her nearby friends' apartments—and besides, most of them would be asleep by now—and she was sick of staring at it, because at least the ceiling didn't make her feel really stupid.

There was _someone _she could have called by now, at least. The question was whether she had the courage to do it. Did she? Did she not? Did she? It was a question for the ages, she decided sardonically. Well, no, that was wrong, it was a question that would be decided by her actions in the next few minutes. She cast a look at the communicator that rested innocently in her palm, flipping it and tossing it between her hands a few times—_ow! Fuck_. She just dropped it on her own face!

That was at least something she could laugh at. Which she did. It was good to be able to laugh at oneself, right?

Welp, nothing for it now, she was going to call. This decided, she only hesitated for a moment before she punched the button that would connect her to—

"Yo, Lalonde, what's up?" AR greeted, his voice calm and almost but not quite bored as always.

"Hey, AR!" she replied, forcing cheer into her voice. "Wanna do me a favor and tell me how to work this one math problem?"

There was a slight pause, during which she could almost see Dirk's face frowning at her. "You call me at three in the morning just to ask me to help you with calculus? What the hell have you even been doing all day?"

"Dancing and crying, for your information," she answered with a frown, drumming her fingers against the blanket. "And it's not like you have anything better to do, anyway!"

"Oh," he said. "Stop crying. It's stupid and doesn't help you in any way."

Roxy was about to hang up on him then and there, cursing her own folly in bothering to call him in the first place, when he added more quietly, "But also, I hate hearing you say that you're crying when I can't do a fucking thing about it."

She sat quietly, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before she responded. It was almost too easy to forget, sometimes, that AR wasn't Dirk, because their personalities seemed to almost seamlessly meld into one another, and for a moment Roxy allowed herself to imagine that it would be okay because in a way Dirk was still with her, she still had him here and it was alright—but then she felt horribly, awfully guilty, because somewhere out there her Dirk, the one she'd grown up with and the one who could physically reach out and hold her hand and wipe away her tears, no matter how awkward he might become when trying to deal with other people's feelings, that Dirk was behind bars and probably miserable and there was no way that that would ever be okay.

"I don't like crying either," she told him with a little laugh. "Which is why I'm calling you at three in the morning just to ask you to help me with calculus."

"Oh, alright," he muttered, as if there'd ever been any question that he'd help her. "What's the problem?"

"Some bullshit thing with integrals," Roxy shrugged. "Here, let me read it to you." She rattled off a string of numbers with a liberal spattering of variables, grouping symbols, and various notations.

A little time passed in this fashion, with AR prodding Roxy toward the correct answer as she fumbled around in her own confusion for a little while before the lightbulb clicked and suddenly—"Ohhhhhh! Ohhh, I see! So it's fifteen, right?"—the solution came.

"Excellent job," AR said, without even a trace of sarcasm. Roxy beamed.

"I wouldn't have been able to do that if I'd been drunk!" she said happily, not really thinking because it was nearly four in the morning and really, who thinks at four in the morning?

"Why the fuck would you have been—oh _hell_ no. God fucking damn it, Lalonde! You were actually doing good!" AR seethed, obviously having arrived at the conclusion that she had been drinking again. Which was almost true, but not! That almost meant a significant amount.

"Dirk! Calm down!" she exclaimed placatingly, only belatedly realizing that she'd called him Dirk. Oops. "I didn't, I didn't, I promise! When I told you all I did today was dance and cry, I meant it. Well, I did a little bit of poly-sci studies, but that's beside the point. I didn't drink today. Or yesterday. Or actually, ever since I stopped."

"Then what were you getting at a second ago?" he asked suspiciously. Apparently he had either not noticed that she called him Dirk—highly unlikely—or he was choosing to stew over it and not comment, at least for now, which was much more probable. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

"I'm not going to lie to you and say I haven't thought about it," she said honestly. "But I haven't actually done it. Actually, that's what gave me the idea to dance, standing in the kitchen til I saw Mom's picture. Either way, I stop thinking about things, but dancing is a hell of a lot better for me, ya know?"

AR was silent for just a second. "Yeah. It is. I hope I never have to tell you again that you need to stay away from that shit, though, Roxy."

Oh, now, he was pulling out the first name and sober tone? This shit was getting _real_. "You didn't have to tell me just now. I know. It fucks you up and sucks you back in because you think it's a coping mechanism but it's really a big black hole."

"Good description," he said, and it was back to the lighter, more sarcastic voice that she was more familiar with from AR. When AR got serious, he really reminded her of Dirk. And that was... well, it hurt, because it was a blatant reminder that he wasn't there.

"Thanks, AR," she sighed, wishing it was actually Dirk so she could reach over and ruffle his hair and giggle when he complained loudly like he always would before he returned the favor and then grinned that little grin of his when her hair fell in her face and she shook her head to try and push it aside—oh god, she missed him. Talking to this not-quite-Dirk was heartrending.

And it didn't help that it was her fault, her fault and hers alone, that he and Jane were gone. It was all thanks to her that her friends were who-knows-where going through some horrible variant of who-knows-what and it was not fair, they shouldn't be there! If she'd managed to just not drop that communicator—for the zillionth time, that moment replayed in her mind as if in slow motion, the feeling of the weight in her pocket shifting as she scrambled up the wall, the sudden realization that it was gone, the loud _crack_ when it hit the pavement, and then her continued flight. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"I calculuate a ninety six point eight nine nine percent chance that right now you're agonizing over the fact that Dirk and Jane aren't here," AR interrupted her recollection. "Stop that."

Roxy sighed, determinedly wiping her eyes before she really started crying again. "AR?" she asked after a moment. "Do you have any leads on where they are at all?"

AR seemed reluctant to answer, but he eventually sighed and said, "You know, I had calculated that there was a zero percent chance I would ever say this. Like, less than zero. If we were playing hot and cold, this shit would be less than absolute zero. How is it less than absolute zero, you ask? Well, it's almost as cool as me, and that's how—"

"AR," she interrupted, feeling her heart sinking before she even got a straight answer. "I asked a yes or no question."

He seemed even more reluctant, but finally he admitted, "I have no fucking idea, Roxy."

* * *

That weekend, as every other weekend since the ill-fated march, Roxy made her way across campus and a ways into town to meet Jake at the underground secret base of operations. She arrived early, and after a few minutes of trying to just take a nap on the couch because she was too lazy to walk to one of the three bedrooms somewhere in the back, she sighed. It was just as she'd expected; there was pretty much no way that she could go to sleep here, not when she couldn't stop her thoughts from racing because everything around her came with memories attached.

Rolling over with a groan, she sighed loudly and pushed herself into a sitting position, then stood and ambled over to one of the computers that sat conveniently around the walls, placed there of course by Roxy herself some time ago. If she wasn't going to get any rest, she could at least try—try being the operative word—to look once again and see if she could dig up any information on "Lord English" that wasn't a compilation of folklore or other similar useless things.

The more she scrolled through every database she pulled up, the more she became convinced that these motherfuckers were not going to be easy to find at _all_. How were they supposed to mount a rescue operation if she couldn't get any concrete evidence that they even existed? But she wasn't about to doubt AR on this one; it definitely wasn't the Batterwitch's army that had taken them, if she remembered the dead bodies—which, rest assured, she did, a bit too well in her opinion—correctly. At least a name was better than nothing.

It wasn't like she hated reading these legends or anything; they were kind of cool, in their own way, even if they did lack neat elements like mages and wizards using magic in more fun ways than just time-tested ones that everybody in every story did. They were also part of Skaian culture, rumored to be passed down from the oldest of days. That was cool too, but so not hella useful.

"'_They say the prince of demons hides in every shadow, and yet is never found in any of them, for it takes the light of a great seer to pierce his darkness. But seers, my child, are already a rare breed, and great ones are even harder to find, and not all seers can shine the light that you need,' the mage told the brave knight, who wished to rid the world of the terrible demon who fed on their very dreams. 'But it wouldn't be wise of you to seek him out on his terms at all. Find the seer first, if you can remain hidden in the void long enough that he does not notice you on this noble errand.'_

_'__I will find the seer,' the knight vowed. 'Then I shall know the way, and with chivalry and witchcraft united we will defeat the demon prince forever!' He bowed, turned and departed—_"

"Roxy?" Jake's voice asked suddenly. Roxy jumped, surprised.

"Jake!" she beamed, hopping up from her chair to run across the room and hug him. "Sorry, I guess I just got distracted reading old folklore. It's some cute stuff. How've you been, Jakey?"

"Well enough," Jake said, hugging her back. "It's been dreary as always at work, and a bit lonely, but ... but you know why that is without me saying it, I wager."

"Yeah, you'd be right about that," she sighed, looking at the floor as she tucked her hair behind her ear. A thought struck her then. "Oh, Jake, can I ask a favor?"

"Of course!" he said immediately. "What is it?"

"Can you keep this somewhere for me, and don't tell me where you put it until after we get Jane and Dirk back?" she asked, holding out the key to her locked alcohol cabinet and looking up at him plaintively.

Jake blinked, seeming to be a bit surprised by this odd request, but he took the key and nodded seriously, holding her hand for a moment before he released it to pocket the key. "May I inquire, though, what that key unlocks?"

"Yeah, no problem," she said with another sigh. "It's the key to the cabinet where I locked up all the alcoholic drinks in my apartment. I... I almost drank today, like not controlled drinking like it would be at a dinner or something, but like the kind where I mean to lose my mind and—anyway. I didn't do it, but I don't want to get to a point where that's even an option."

Jake was looking at her with a concerned expression that morphed into something akin to pride just a second before he gave her a squeeze and laughed. "Well, props to you, for managing not to do it again, Roxy! I'm proud of you."

She laughed, feeling a little warmth pervade her mind at that statement. "Thanks, Jake!"

"No problem!" he beamed.

They both sat together for a little over an hour, just enjoying the stress-free environment of an evening spent with a friend; Roxy complained to him about her exams while Jake fussed about his job and they both laughed with each other. Finally, though, the elephant in the room was brought forth.

"Have you found anything?" Jake asked after a silence, turning to face her. Even though he didn't specify what, Roxy knew exactly what he was asking about, but her news was grim and she shook her head despairingly, feeling the light, mirthful atmosphere drain away as she did so.

"I wish I had better news for you, Jakey," she buried her face in her hands for a moment. "I haven't found a _thing_, and neither has AR."

Jake looked so sad in that moment that Roxy couldn't help but lean over and wrap an arm around his shoulders. "We'll find something eventually, though, I'm sure of it! Perhaps the breakthrough will be next week, that would be stellar!" he offered a small smile. "We will have them home soon."

"That's the spirit!" Roxy nodded, smiling back at him broadly to hide the dismal feeling in her own heart. Hopefully "soon" would actually come _soon_.

* * *

_AN: Look at me, I got a chapter out this week! I didn't think I was going to, but then some stuff cleared up in my schedule. Don't expect another one this week, though, sorry; I'm going to try and work on it but I'll be pretty busy with school and then this weekend I'm going home to celebrate various shenanigans with my family :D I think that's going to be fun. But anyway look, it's chapter 21! This is exciting! Over 20 chapters! :D_

_Pony - I'm sorry I like to give people nicknames, I'm gonna call you Pony if that's okay? And yep, you said it, creepy Doc Scratch. I don't know, he probably is going to be a bit... darker, dare I say it, than his canon self, because he's kind of over an interrogation thing and that's not going to be pretty. Ew. I don't like him. Also I'm laughing because of all the little details to notice you pick the one about the Condensce's palaces? :P Dirk might have been exaggerating, or she might legit have 50 palaces. We just don't know. _

_Rouge - Here's next chapter! I don't know if it's what you were expecting but it's a thing and it exists, so... yeah! c: Also I swear I am working slowly but surely on your request. It makes me happy and therefore it is long. I apparently do not know how to write short fics. Did I say that? Huh, it must have been before I finished coming up with the plotline I've got now, he has to be here. Sadly. Because he's a douchemuffin extraordinaire._

_LordBeannut - ...B) Oh my god, Davesprite KILLS me with feelings! Okay look here: on page 3592 contrast what he says about himself with page 7843. I just want to hug him, the poor boy! D: D: D: I admit I have laughed at him in canon as well, but overall he creeps me out and I kind of loathe the guy he's becoming as I write him. He's so ... ugh. Creepy! Like dude, no, get away from Janey! :/_

_Wisdom - ... here I go, giving people nicknames again. If you don't want me to call you that just let me know :o I just like giving people nicknames! Anyway thank you soooo much, I'm always happy when new readers show up and review with things like that! (I love how all of us, myself included, are sitting here shipping DaveJade but there's no romance in this story xD)_

_And because Pony reminded me, here's this chapter's culinary delight: gulab jamun. More IndoPakistani food! Yum._


	22. Chapter 22: Jane - In The Dark

_Warning for some dark material._

* * *

Jane Crocker had never before felt quite so insignificant as she did in that moment, pressing herself close to Dirk, whose presence at least made her feel a little more secure even if she would have been infinitely happier were he safely away from here, as this mysterious Doctor Scratch began to speak to them of what they could expect now that they were crushed and captured.

Dirk shifted, scooting slightly away from her and letting go of her completely. Jane looked up at him from the corner of her eyes a bit longingly, because at least when he held her she felt a little safer, but she didn't say anything, too deep in her own thoughts to dwell on him.

As the Masked Maiden, she'd begun to feel more confident, more assured of her own importance, her own self-worth, in the grand scheme of things. People who didn't know her still supported her, still pledged that they would uphold her name, and it had made her feel more validated even though she was small and not amazingly beautiful and brilliant like Roxy was or especially talented like Dirk or as charismatic and charming like Jake. It was the first time she'd felt that she _belonged _in a sphere of influence since her father and grandfather had died in that awful vehicular accident years ago, and her method of coping had involved withdrawing into herself and giving up her dreams to just live a dreary day-to-day life.

And now, sitting here, she was sharply reminded that her efforts to be something more than just drab little Jane had served no purpose other than to land her in someplace she really didn't want to be, and to drag one of her best friends down with her. It was like what she'd feared with Jake, happening all over again. If they hurt Dirk because of her—oh, she just _knew_ that she wouldn't be able to bear it!

There was no telling how long they'd be here. It was a bleak prospect, one that scared her more than she liked to admit—was this going to be how her life ended? She didn't want to think of it, so she pulled herself from her grim thoughts and began to listen raptly again, biting her lip anxiously. Dirk didn't seem to notice, which was a little strange for someone as perceptive as him, but she figured that he could be forgiven considering the somewhat extenuating circumstances. Seeking comfort, she leaned against his shoulder, disregarding Doctor Scratch for the moment—but to her shock, Dirk frowned and shook her off.

What? Was he angry with her? Hurt and more fear surged through her, but there was no way she could talk to him while the green-garbed, strange and frightening man was smoothly uttering words of doom from the other cozy armchair.

"I trust that you both realize the gravity of your situation," he was saying. "As effective prisoners, shall we say, though I do dislike the term; it sounds quite impersonal, you are both under my jurisdiction. And although I am an excellent host to those guests I do receive, I am sure you realize that I must do first and foremost what is best for those whom I serve, or who serve me. You are both bright, I know, so I am sure you understand such an elementary concept."

He talked to them like they were morons, Jane thought angrily. If he was going to used veiled insults, what was the point of this entire "discussion", just to be bothersome? It was borderline ridiculous!

"And although I would like to be _friends_ with the two of you, it really must be a two-way deal for such a thing to work out. But I am afraid that you won't deliver, and by that I mean that I already know that you will regrettably fall short. It is such a pity." His gaze lingered on Jane for just a moment too long, and she shrank back into the couch cushions in revulsion. "It would have been so nice to get to know you better."

"What do you want?" Jane demanded, her knuckles going white from the strain as she squeezed the edge of the couch to hide her own fear from her voice. "Just get to the point already and stop blathering around like this." To be honest the whole thing was scaring her even more, this strange conversation that seemed to be going in circles as the supposedly excellent host leered at her. It was the same way lowlifes in the dark districts leered at any women walking about, and just because the expression was on a richer man did not make it any less frightening.

Dirk, however, cast her a sharp look that she was unable to read—was it rebuking? Did he really not see why she was upset here?—before he turned back to Doctor Scratch and said, "Do excuse my ... companion. She can be a bit uncouth at times, it must come from being in the lower districts all the time."

"I see," Scratch sighed, interlacing his fingers in his lap and pondering them before he gestured grandiosely as if it was a great personal offense that he was being magnanimous enough to overlook. "It is no matter. The lady can speak her mind if she wills it; I, being the impeccable host that I am, have all the interest in what she has to say. I do look forward to hearing her words."

There it was again, that slight sneer that made her flinch back, trying to shift closer to Dirk again when he frowned and pushed her away.

"Cut it out already," he commanded. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Jane froze, confusion warring with hurt in her mind as she stared up at him, scarcely able to process. A few minutes ago he'd been holding her so close, and suddenly he wanted nothing to do with her? What was going on? What had she done, what had happened? "I... Dirk?" she asked hesitantly, feeling tears starting to well up again.

"Stop it," he said again, and turned back to Doctor Scratch. "Again, excuse her. What are we here to discuss?"

"Oh, well, that is indeed a simple matter," Scratch said with a thin smile that seemed to be as genuine as Jane's calmness. "I merely require some information from you—namely, all that you can tell me about your little movement among the population. The more you tell me now, the easier this will be later."

* * *

They had been split apart not too long after that, because despite his alarmingly strange, aloof and cold behavior, Dirk refused to provide any word of their operations or any pertinent information at all, and Jane stood resolutely by her friends. Doctor Scratch seemed disappointed in them, but she didn't particularly care about his feelings. If he wanted to sit there and exude an aura that was supposed to make them feel bad that they didn't give up their friends, let him. Creep and strangely powerful Time-mage that he might be—at least, she guessed that he was, going by the ridiculous clocks—he was still just another enemy, and she was not going to betray Jake or Roxy or Dirk.

But now, sitting back in her cell, Jane could feel the faint bravado she'd been carrying herself with starting to fade away, back into the recesses of her mind as she sat alone on the hard stone floor and thought longingly of home. How she just wanted to get out of here, to get both herself and Dirk away... what was he doing, now? Was he alright?

Probably, because if earlier had anything to do with it he wasn't agonizing over whether she was alright. It didn't make sense! Not two seconds before Scratch had walked in, Dirk had been holding her close and trying to comfort her as best as he could, even though he was so upset, but then it was like a switch had been flipped and he was giving her the cold shoulder, as if they were nothing more than casual acquaintances or even as if that he held no fondness for her whatsoever. And when they were leaving, he had cast her a sad, apologetic look, just for an instant; had she imagined it? What was going on with him? Was he trying to just go ahead and make himself not care so that maybe it would be easier to deal with being here... forever?

Oh, oh no, she still wasn't prepared to deal with that concept. Thinking of the rest of her life being spent between these dark walls under the ground was terrifying and she could feel the panic starting to come back, so she stuffed that thought away and with effort wrenched her mind to the subject of the day's discussion. She would just have to take this one day at a time, and every day that came she would have to remind herself of Jake and Roxy and what she was fighting for, like that little girl, that poor child whose name she had never learnt. If she did that, perhaps she could remain strong.

This was a bleak future that she was looking at. It made her feel even more empty, even more lost. All she had left was Dirk, and if today was anything to go by, she didn't really have him anymore, either.

Jane shivered, curling in on herself and wrapping her arms around her knees in an effort to maintain warmth in the dank chill of the cell. Would a blanket be too much to ask for, too? Apparently so. Maybe giving her a blanket would be a form of providing emotional comfort because she could hide under it, and that just wouldn't do, would it? Of course not.

A soft whimper escaped her, followed by a muffled sob as she tried in vain to blink back the sudden tears of despair that began to roll down her cheeks and drip onto her legs. "I just want to go home," she whispered into her hands, tossing her glasses to the floor and letting herself cry—why bother not crying, anyway? This was a situation that merited tears, if there ever was one. It was heartbreaking and awful and she did not want to spend the rest of her life in this awful prison! However long that life would be, anyway, because after a few years the political unrest that they'd managed to stir up would probably die down again, and there would be no need to have her or Dirk stay alive because the revolution would be a thing of the past. Was this the only future she had left to look forward to?

_I wanted so much more than this_, she thought yearningly, thinking of all the beautiful visions of a bright future that their words had so glowingly painted. It looked like that was never going to happen now... could Jake and Roxy carry on the movement alone? She doubted it; Roxy might have tried to, but Jake probably would want to try and rescue them, and he couldn't possibly do that. She just had to count on Roxy to keep him from doing something stupid and getting captured, and she had to hope that at least for those two, life would go on.

For herself, Jane had very little hope now. There was pretty much nothing to be done at this point. All she could do was shiver and cry and be afraid in her little cell. It was not a life she was looking forward to living, and it was not a life she would have wished on anyone, let alone Dirk, even if he didn't seem to want to be around her anymore. It hurt, but she wanted what was best for him at this point. Jake and Roxy were in another world, now. The only person she cared about in here was Dirk, and despite the fact that it seemed to her that it was one-sided now, for whatever reason, she would never stop trying to help him. It was what friends did, no matter what.

With another sob, she curled more tightly in on herself and tried in vain to think of things that might cheer her up, or at least calm her and assuage her tears. It didn't work, not one bit, and once again she cried herself to sleep in the darkness of her deep, buried cell.

* * *

The next morning dawned far too early for Dirk's liking. He had been unable to fall asleep most of the night, trying to plan out how he was going to play this game to keep Jane safe—if he could make it look like he didn't care for her, perhaps Scratch would be less inclined to play them against each other. It was hard, and he could tell that acting distant yesterday had hurt her, but it had been a plan he'd come up with on the spur of the moment and hadn't had time to tell her that he didn't mean it, he would never mean it, he could never push her away like that. Part of him wondered how she could ever think that he might ever even do that to her, but he knew that she was confused and hurting already, and it had just added to that.

But if he could protect her thereby, then he would have to do what he was doing. He only hoped that his subtle clues dropped here and there for Scratch would have a greater effect on their captors than they did on Jane.

When the door clanged open, he sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes to try and dispel the last of his drowsiness. Two guards walked in, and to his surprise so did Doctor Scratch.

"Hello again, Mister Strider," the green-garbed man greeted. "Since you regrettably refused to divulge any information to me yesterday, I am afraid we will have to try again today, with a more harsh tactic. Come along, walk with me. Before we begin, I would like to talk to you."

"Talk to me about what?" Dirk asked suspiciously, following Scratch down the hall.

"Oh, this and that. To start off," Scratch grinned, "what can you tell me about your relationship with Miss Crocker?"

Oh, hell no. They _were _planning on using Jane against him, and vice versa. He was walking the finest of fucking tightropes here. "We aren't close," he said shortly, making sure that he didn't accidentally come across as too eager to give information. It was false information that he wanted to give them, but if they thought that he wanted to tell them something they might question the validity of that something. Fucking mind games.

"Really? One might think that is a strange thing indeed, considering that you both run a revolution together. Did you know someone else who was the way you met, then?"

"Our relationship was strictly professional," he answered, dodging the other question with a sinking feeling in his stomach. This fucker was good at mental manipulation... he wasn't looking forward to playing this game every day. He had already made it quite clear that he had found a hole in Dirk's façade-fuck it all, he just hadn't had the time to put a more carefully-constructed mask into place, and now it was falling apart. His story didn't hold water, apparently.

"I see," Scratch said smoothly, leading the way out into a small stone courtyard. Jane was already there, he saw, shackled to a post. There was another one next to it that he was led to, and a chain was attached to the cuffs on his wrists just like they had to her.

"I do apologize that we have to do it this way," Scratch sighed, as if this was some sort of great inconvenience. "But you must remember, I did try to do this the easy way. You brought this upon yourselves, I am afraid." He laughed that same obnoxious way from yesterday, seeming oh so very sorry indeed. Dirk scowled at him, feeling the strong feeling of dislike roiling in the pit of his stomach, before he turned to look at Jane. She wasn't meeting his gaze, staring at the flagstones of the courtyard and biting her lip nervously. He wanted to comfort her, but there was no way he could.

"Let me ask you again," Scratch interrupted his thoughts. "Is there another person who helped you organize this movement? If you had a merely professional relationship I should think there would be, would you not?"

"No," Dirk gritted his teeth. "There is not." His heart was pounding in his throat, and he dearly hoped that this would not be the day he found someone who could see through his mask of indifference.

"I warn you, you should try not to lie to me," the other man said loftily, clasping his hands behind his back. "I have great knowledge of events, and that answer seems a bit suspect to me."

"Well, tough luck, because it's fucking true," Dirk glared.

"Is it, is it really? I feel like you are lying to me, Strider. Hee hee, how amusing I am sometimes... because I _know _you are lying. But if you refuse to do this the easy way today..."

What did he mean that he knew they were lying? Had Jake or Roxy been captured too? Beside him, Jane must have reached the same conclusion, because he saw her eyes widen and her shoulders stiffen.

To his horror, though, Scratch seemed to notice that too. "Ah, so it is true, then," he mused. One white-gloved hand motioned at a guard who came forth, bowing slightly. "You know what I want you to do," Doctor Scratch said. "Go ahead."

The guard nodded, and with a moment of concentration, conjured a red-hot brand. Dirk felt his body go ice-cold in dread before he took a deep breath, trying to ready himself for pain. Scratch motioned at ... at _Jane, _oh fuck no, not at Jane!

She flinched away, letting out a cry as the hot metal drew nearer and nearer to her arm, until Dirk could bear it no longer and cried, "Stop! Don't hurt her!"

"I thought you didn't care for her, Strider," Scratch said, triumph in his voice as he sealed the trap, waving the soldier with the brand away for the moment at least. "Now, do go and tell me what else you've been lying about. Who is the other companion? Don't try to lie now, either, we know there was a girl with blonde hair, seen working with you on the night we brought you in."

Feeling his heart sink lower and lower and hating himself for every word he was about to speak, Dirk closed his eyes and hung his head so that he didn't have to see Jane watching as he was defeated. "Her name is Roxy. Roxy Lalonde."

* * *

_AN: Oh gosh... this one was hard to write. :c Poor darlings. (There is definitely no evil laughter from the distance, not one bit. Nope.) But it sort of had to happen, I guess-they are prisoners in a hard situation, after all, and that's not going to be pretty. Ah well._

_Pony - Hm, what random details have I inserted in this chapter? I know I dropped quite a few last time. This one, not so much, I think. I guess you'll just be there to remind me of the food always hahaha! And yeah, calculus is hard :c well, at least until you get it. Then it's not so bad._

_LordPeanut - I did have to send those. Because I need someone to share my pain because POOR DAVESPRITE BABY. Every time he says "Real Dave" to refer to Alpha Dave I feel my heart shatter a bit more. Ugh, I think you're starting to see why I really dislike Scratch as he's turned out to be in this verse... ew. Yeah, that's what I'm glad for her about! At least Roxy has a silver lining, though no one else really does... And keep that folklore in mind, or go back and reread it... it might have some pertinence~ ;D_

_Wisdom - Ah but of course, or you could even call me Song if you like! Either one's cool with me :D Okay, it's actually like I stole from the comic here. :P This will be explained a bit better as the kids figure it out, but the beta kids hopped universes to one where their families were switched up. Fugitive Dave and Rose were the guardians of Dirk and Roxy, but they weren't the same people as Dave and Rose from the universe Jade left. Alpha Dave and Rose (and John and Jade) are all dead, just like all the beta kids' guardians._

_Smartbrainmonkey - Oh my gosh, I have a fanbase? O.O thank you very much! I'm always absolutely elated when I get new readers-like, I sit here and squee at my pillow or my computer or whatever. Welcome to the party, my friend, and I hope you enjoy it! Hehe I do try to keep readers involved, though the ANs get a bit long. Oh well!_

_Thanks for reading, everyone!_


	23. Chapter 23: Rose - Wanderers I

Rose Lalonde let out a gasping breath she was scarcely aware of holding as the contours of the world slowly faded back into existence, the unbelievably bright green of _whatever _that had been dissipating and leaving spots all over her vision as it went. It was the strangest sensation, as if she'd been standing still while all of eternity rushed by at speeds high enough to rip the air from her lungs and somehow Jade had been guiding her through the unstable swirling vortex, the only anchors in her overwhelmed senses being the two hands she gripped, Jade's and John's...

Her knees almost buckled, her legs felt like jelly, but she locked them in place and by sheer force of willpower refused to fall. Beside her, Jade stumbled, and to Rose's alarm with a soft moan the petite girl crumpled; she only barely managed to catch her friend before the girl hit the ground, but the added weight was too much for Rose's beleaguered limbs and she sank to the ground herself, slowly, holding Jade. They were atop a shallow mound of dirt, and Dave and John were both nearby, though they also seemed to have lost their feet; both seemed to have rolled down the sides of the pile.

"Dave? John?" she breathed, scarcely daring to turn her head to look at either of them and instead allowing herself a moment to be uncomposed and bury her face in Jade's thick curls. The unconscious girl's breathing was steady and her pulse was weak but present, though her arm was starting to bleed again; Rose figured that she had just completely burnt herself out to beyond the point of exhaustion with that... whatever that had been. It was similar to her usual teleportation but somehow longer, stranger, and more consuming than even the void between places. But she figured Jade would wake up soon... most mages did, after they drained their inner resources. The longest she'd seen someone remain unconscious was a full day, sunrise to sunset. Most likely Jade would stir in a few hours. They'd need to find a bandage for her arm beforehand, but it would be okay.

She lifted her head and shifted in time to see John pushing himself up into a sitting position, and Dave kneeling, breathing hard.

"What the hell was that?" her cousin asked, turning around. His eyes widened at the sight of the collapsed Jade in Rose's trembling arms, and he hastened up the side of the mound toward them both. John shook his head as if to clear it, then upon sighting them with a gasp of dismay he shot himself into the air to join them as well, hovering slightly above the dirt as he fretted. Rose gave him a small smile and a reassuring look.

He returned an alarmed one, frantic worry written on his face. "Is she okay? Jade? Jade!"

"She's alright, I think," Rose soothed, placing a hand on his arm in placation. "Just exhausted. I don't know what that was, but it took a lot out of her. And we need to find her arm a proper bandage."

Dave frowned. "Okay, but what the _hell _just happened. That was more than just teleportation, I felt her do something so screwy she messed with _time_ too, and she pulled all four of us along and then she _undid_ whatever the hell she did previously."

His words hung in the air for several heavy seconds as all of them pondered the question: what had Jade done?

"Where are we, anyway?" John finally asked, tearing his gaze away from Jade to instead peer at their surroundings. The mound of dirt was in a clearing in a light wood, though the tranquility of the forest was destroyed by the nigh-constant sound of flying cars, indicating they were near a city of some sort. The trees were thin and tall, and the light that filtered through suggested that it was late evening, around sunset on a cloudy day.

It was a familiar forest, light and airy rather than densely packed woods. They had been fleeing through similar territory when they'd been surrounded, in a clearing similar to this one. Actually, now that she thought about it with a more clear head, the clearing looked uncannily similar to that one, yet they had definitely moved, hadn't they?

"I honestly have no idea," she said truthfully.

"If only Jade were awake, she probably knows where she sent us," John sighed, reaching forward to squeeze his sister's limp hand. "What do we do now? We have some of our supplies, at least, but the soldiers destroyed a lot of the food and water before I got to them during that battle, and a lot of what was left was left behind."

"And there is no fucking way we are getting that back," Dave added helpfully, his arms folded across his chest. He frowned at the air around them, as if seeing something that wasn't quite there and trying to analyze it.

"We should scout around, then," John decided. "Rose, can you—"

"I'm on it," she said, shifting Jade's weight in her arms and closing her eyes to open the inner ones. Being a seer was an interesting gift; she had learned to hone her mind's eye to allow it to see what she needed it to, though it was made easier if she had something to focus her energies in. A crystal ball, stereotypical as it was, helped with this immensely, but she was pretty sure hers was lost and broken in another forest somewhere, and so had to rely on the fuzzier pictures that came with her innate ability.

Now, she swept her gaze across their forest. To the northeast of their little impromptu camp, not more than a mile or so away, was the road they could hear the loud cars from; the forest extended all around for as far as she bothered to look. Following the road saw that in one direction it headed into the countryside as far as they would bother to walk, passing a few forks that presumably led to villages and other towns, and in the other...

In the other, the road led to the capital city of the Empire, also within a few hours' brisk walk from their location. Rose felt a chill trace its icy fingers down her spine. Why had Jade brought them here?

She pulled her mind back into her body and opened her eyes, looking up at John, who now was standing. "We're right by the Imperial City," she said bluntly. "Road to the northeast, follow it for a couple of hours and it's there."

Dave and John both froze. "The _City_?" John breathed in shock. "Why?"

"I don't know that either." Rose sighed, tucking a piece of pale hair behind her ear curtly and adjusting Jade in her arms again so that the other girl didn't slip and slide down the sides of the dirt mound. Something was going on here that she didn't understand, and for her, a seer who was used to being on top of all the knowledge to be had, it was maddening. But there was nothing to be done about it, not until Jade woke up and she could interrogate her, at least. So she pushed those aside in favor of practical concerns. "But I do know that we are low on supplies and for whatever reason, her forces haven't tracked Jade's abilities to reach us here, which suggests that somehow we are hidden, at least for the moment. I realize that it is evening, so we should probably take tonight and rest, but at dawn tomorrow I think we should see about acquiring some from the City before we move out again."

"That seems a bit like pushing our luck," John frowned. He seemed conflicted between the need to replenish their resources before returning to a life on the run, and the desire to avoid population centers and attention.

"Our only other option is a village that's not too much farther in the other direction. But think about it, are newcomers and travelers more common in the City or in a little suburb thereof? We'd be more memorable to the villagers," Rose explained. "Anonymity and the ability to blend in would be on our side in the City. Plus, it's not like they'd expect us to go there. But if you really don't want to go, I'll do it alone—"

"No, no, I'll come with you!" John quickly disagreed, shaking his head. "No one should go alone."

"In that case, do you mind staying here with Jade?" she turned to Dave, raising an eyebrow. "No one should be alone, especially not the unconscious one. Though she'll probably wake up in the middle of the night and go back to sleep on us," she laughed softly, looking down at Jade fondly. The green-eyed girl remained as oblivious to the world as ever, limp like a heavy rag doll in her arms. Rose's folded legs were starting to lose feeling and become numb, and in a vain attempt to allow blood to circulate more freely she shifted Jade's weight again. John noticed and leaned over, deftly scooping his sister up and holding her in his lap instead, and then sat regarding her with love and worry written plain as day on his face.

"She will be okay, right, Rose?" he asked, the need for reassurance manifesting itself in the question whose answer he already knew.

"She'll be fine," Rose confirmed with a forced but hopefully, outwardly gentle smile. "She's just beyond tired. She used up almost every last shred of power in her body with that stunt."

The words were more optimistic than they should have been—the memory of the bright, painfully bright green rushing and flowing everywhere around and through her, and the only sounds a deafening roar as the shouts of the soldiers grew dim behind them and Jade, Jade first burning brighter than everything else and seeming whole and healed again, just for a few brilliant heartbeats as she somehow navigated the blinding green, and then Jade screaming in absolute agony, her hand tensed and clenched so tightly Rose half feared for the safety of her own fingers—that memory suddenly came back, and with effort she pushed it away. John didn't need her dark speculations, he needed comfort.

"Almost," Dave muttered under his breath skeptically. Rose raised her eyebrow at him, as if asking for elaboration. He shrugged, shaking his head and continuing to darkly frown at the space around them. Rose wondered if he had suspicions of his own; she would need to ask him about that quietly, when John was asleep. The poor boy had enough on his shoulders without adding stress from unproven ponderings that more than likely wouldn't bear fruit.

"You should get some rest, John," she said kindly. "You look exhausted. All of us probably ought to sleep, really. Dave or I can take first watch."

In a few minutes, they had constructed a campsite with practised ease, albeit with a good deal of improvisation—one of the tents had been lost in the scramble and the fighting, and so had a few of the blankets. The remaining tent had been damaged in the battle, a large gash down the side that was almost a second door, so Rose quickly took a spare cloak from one of their packs and with her needles, hastily sowed it on top of the hole after she sowed its edges back together, too. It was messy and probably not as good as the tent had been, but it would have to do.

John had meanwhile torn some strips of cloth from the same cloak that was now being used to patch the tent together to make bandages, wrapping Jade's arm securely before he turned to a smaller injury on Dave's leg. Jade was placed in the center of the paltry shelter and her brother curled up next to her, wrapping himself around her in a protective pose, tired enough to go with no protest. He seemed to realize that if one was as exhausted as he was, they would be a bad candidate for first watch anyway, Rose noted. That was good. She looked questioningly to Dave, asking wordlessly which watch he wanted to take.

"I'll do first shift," he said, sitting down outside the shelter bathed in starlight that streamed through the trees. Rose lay on Jade's other side and listened to the sound of the wind in the leaves and the soft breathing of her two companions. It was peaceful, somehow less stressful and less frightening than most other nights when they slept in constant fear of attack. Somehow that underlying fright, often brought on manifold by her subconscious visions, had vanished and she felt almost content like she hadn't been in years. What _had _ Jade done?

A few minutes passed in peace and quiet, or as quiet and peaceful they could get in the circumstances. Jade didn't move, still; John wrapped himself around her and closed his eyes, falling asleep in a few short moments. Rose waited several seconds longer, hearing the steady breaths of her two companions, then silently rolled away and crawled from the makeshift shelter to sit beside her cousin

"Do you know something about whatever happened?" she asked bluntly, too exhausted from worries to bother sugar-coating her words.

"I have some suspicions," he replied with a funny sound in his voice, staring straight ahead into the woods. "But they make absolutely no damn sense."

"Enlighten me," she drawled back. One pale hand tucked a lock of mussed golden hair behind her ear.

"She ripped apart the walls of the universe," he said flatly.

"What?" Rose blinked in surprise.

"Yeah. Told you, makes no sense." Dave shook his head, then returned to watching the trees.

"What does that mean, though? Are we in another universe with the same conditions as ours? Are there other versions of us here?" Her mind was spinning already, trying to formulate ideas with the new information she was given. Barely aware she was saying her thoughts aloud, Rose continued firing off questions. "If so, are they under surveillance by the Empress? What will the fact that we're here mean for us and them?"

"Rose!" Dave cut her off brusquely. "I don't know, and I really honestly don't give a fuck. All I want to know right now is what the hell we're supposed to do. Because I have no answers either."

Rose sighed. "Sorry. Perhaps I was a bit overzealous there. I suppose we have nothing to do but wait for Jade to wake up."

Dave blew out a breath, resting his chin on his hand. "Yeah. Answers in the morning. Go to bed, you and John have a long walk in the morning. D'you want second or third watch?"

"I'll take third," she replied, rising gracefully to walk back into the makeshift shelter. "Good night, Dave."

"Night."

For a moment as she stood silently just outside the entrance to the tent, Rose considered her cousin, silhouetted by the moonlight that filtered into their clearing as he sat next to the mound of dirt in the center. His shoulders were tense as always, but even so he seemed on edge and more contemplative, even melancholy as he observed the forest. The sword that his fingers rested on glinted sharply in the starlight, but even so he seemed still and quiet, not dangerous, with silvery moonlight spilling from his pale hair as he faced the darkness of the woods. Perhaps he was just taking in their new universe, perhaps he was worried for Jade.

Either way, Rose was waiting for the arrival of light. The morning would perhaps bring with it the answers to their questions.

* * *

The seer woke early, a few hours before sunrise, when John gently roused her, seeming apologetic like he always did when he was too tired to stay awake into the next shift, which he always wanted to do despite his obvious drowsiness. "Hey, Rose," he whispered so as not to wake Dave (or Jade, if she was asleep now rather than unconscious). "Your turn, sorry! I'm so sleepy..."

"Thank you for waking me up," she replied, sitting up for a moment before she pushed aside the blanket under which she had been sleeping. "Go to sleep, you look exhausted."

"Will do," he said with a half-smile before he crawled into the spot she had been sleeping in a few moments before, closing his eyes with a sigh.

Stretching and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Rose walked out of the little tent into the dark clearing, where she paced the perimeter of their makeshift camp a few times as she watched the stars, just to keep herself awake. It was very calm, very quiet, and very peaceful; experience told her not to let her guard down, nonetheless, but it also told her that she was allowed to enjoy the tranquility while it lasted. Often, for the four of them, moments of serenity like this came only sparsely, but they were moments that Rose liked to treasure, when she could be alone with her thoughts and the stillness of the world.

Being a seer was a great boon, but it was difficult, too. The visions were hard to control, and to her it always seemed as though there was too much going on in the world to fully process—what the others called "going into a trance" was when she just let go of the physical world and allowed herself to completely become immersed in the visions. Focusing on her Light was a way to make them clearer; at one point, she'd had a crystal ball that her mother had given her (she'd only used it after a lot of scoffing and passive-aggressive warfare) that helped, too, but it had been broken during the same battle in which Jade had been captured.

So it was that during moments of absolute silence and absolute calm, Rose found it easiest to be a seer. She could sort through her thoughts with relative ease without being distracted by the hustle and bustle and turmoil that came with being a fugitive.

As the hours slowly ticked by to dawn, Rose drank in the quietness around her and used it to help her quell the visions that wanted to flicker across her sight, to make sense of all the different images clamoring at her mind. Keeping watch was a good occupation for a seer; not only could she monitor her direct surroundings, but also she could use her mind's eye to sweep her gaze about the entire forest that stood about their campsite. When the sun started to rise, she sighed tiredly and rolled her shoulders before going back into the tent to wake John, Dave, and ... oh. The vision that just drifted through her mind told her that Jade was still out unconscious. That was strange, but probably the other girl would wake up in a matter of an hour or two; Rose had never heard of someone being unconscious from magic overuse longer than about half a day, or twelve hours.

"John? Dave? Hey, boys, rise and shine," she said dryly, shaking them each in turn. Dave groaned as he sat up; John hugged Jade tighter to him and sighed sleepily.

"Ten minutes, Miss L," he moaned, flapping a hand at her.

Dave and Rose exchanged surprised glances as the former tossed his head to fling the hair back from his face. Rose was taken aback for a moment—in his slumber, John had mistaken her for her dead mother—before she crossed her arms, pushing whatever surprise she felt to the back of her mind, and regarded him with a measure of sternness. "John Egbert, get up right now. We are going to town."

"Huh?" the dark-haired boy blinked groggily. "Oh, hey Rose. Ugh, one day we should just sleep in..."

"We can sleep in when we find a goddamn safe place to sleep," Dave suggested. "Get your lazy ass out of bed, Egbert."

"Ughhh," John complained, but he reluctantly pushed himself into a sitting position. "Jade. Jade, wake up—"

"She's not sleeping," Rose interrupted gently. "I'm afraid she's still unconscious. But don't worry!" she hurriedly added, because a look of worry crossed his drowsy face. "I'm sure she'll wake up soon, probably by the time we get back."

"Why am I awake again," Dave frowned, looking back at the cloak and blanket that he'd been asleep under.

"Because someone has to be on watch, unless you think it's a good idea to leave both you and Jade down for the count right next to the City," John answered. "I don't think that's a good idea, by the way."

"That was a fucking rhetorical question, Egbert."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! But at least now that you're awake we can all eat breakfast." John cast one more worried look to Jade before he reached over and grabbed one of the food bags they carried, producing a loaf of bread—a little stale, but still good—and some waterskins, plus some dried fruit, all of which he distributed among the three of them.

It was a meager meal, but until their supplies were replenished none of them wanted to use more than was absolutely necessary, and even though it was a bit bland and not too grandiose, at least the food was filling. There was litle conversation as they ate, and finally the three of them left the tent. Rose and John wrapped light traveling cloaks about their shoulders, each of them keeping a satchel with money securely at their side.

"Don't do anything stupid," Dave said by way of parting as they began to walk northeast, toward the road that went to the Imperial City.

"No promises," Rose said lightly, tossing her hair over her shoulder and fluffing it out with her fingers.

"We'll see you soon, Dave!" John added over his shoulder, pivoting on his heel to wave once before letting his momentum spin him back around to march forward.

"Yeah, see you," the Time mage said, and turned his back on them to go change the bandages on Jade's arm once more.

* * *

_AN: Gosh, I am so excited for this story arc here. I actually wrote this part way before I did most of the last few chapters, because I was more excited about this than I was for the rallies! I'm not one-hundred percent satisfied with it, but fidgeting with little words and phrases is what I've been doing for a while and I decided what the heck, I'll go ahead and get it out there, because it's kind of silly to keep sitting on it. At least I don't really hate it. Last chapter, though, bleh. I didn't like it but I wanted to get past it because I tried to rewrite it a few times and it never came out right. Anyway, the beta kids! :D I love them._

_Because there were over 5 reviews for last chapter (WOW), I'm going to respond to those via PM so as not to make this note ridiculously long. However, I would like to thank Snowy, LordPeanut, Ponythekidrs, smartbrainmonkey, Ravens-Rook, and Rougeofdoom for reviewing. _

_Also, Pony did bring something up that I had thought was obvious, but apparently not, so I am rectifying my lack of explanation here. Doc Scratch does not have a cue ball for a head. This story does not have the intricate references to outside thematic influences like pool; all intricacies are in the internal universe (though I think there are less intricacies here than in the comic). Again, I thought that was apparent, but I do apologise if not. _

_Oh, and today's sweet treat is cookie cake. ;/_


	24. Chapter 24: Roxy - Escapades

With a triumphant whoop, Roxy burst through the doors of the class building out into the sunlight. "Ha!" she cheered, flinging her arms out from her sides and twirling around once exuberantly before she skipped down the path and slid down the handrail by the steps, letting her momentum carry her all the way down the sidewalk to the fountain in the center of campus, where she jubilantly leaned over and splashed her hands in the cool water.

Finally, finally, finally the exams were over! Political science had been her last one, and it was _done_! Bam, take that, fuck you final exams! Roxy grinned and hopped up from the fountain, feeling too much energy thrumming through her to sit still. What should she do now? Something to celebrate, that much was for sure.

Oh! Here, she had a lovely idea. Time to treat herself, hell yeah! The ice cream shop was just down the street and around the corner. It was a little too expensive for everyday consumption, but this was a special occasion! It was time to go get some custom ice cream.

A spring in her step, Roxy bounced down the street with a wide, wide grin pasted on her face. The simple joy she got from such a seemingly unremarkable task as completing another year of courses was lifting her spirits even more than it would normally, because she was also celebrating the fact that she had managed to get this far without screwing up again and getting Jake or herself captured. Sadly, she still had yet to make any significant progress on the whereabouts of Dirk and Jane, but all the same, she was going to take this day and be happy. She deserved that much for her efforts, right?

Right, she told herself smartly. Now it was time for some ice cream with a ridiculous amount of hot fudge and caramel sauce, ooh, yes, that sounded good!

She breezed into the store and sent the young man working behind the register a cheery wave, making her way to the ice cream bar and creating the perfect confection, chocolate ice cream with a little bit of vanilla added for good measure and topped with hot fudge and caramel with coffee sprinkles. After paying for it, she strolled back into the sunlit streets, enjoying the warmth of summer contrasting with the icy sweetness of her delightful ice cream as she walked back to her apartment.

When she finally arrived, Roxy shut the door on the sunny day with her foot and a contented sigh as she tossed the now-empty container which had held her delicious dessert into the wastebin. Oh, the luxurious feeling of freedom, not having to study one whit until next term started in two weeks! Two weeks of free will, how absolutely wonderful.

She would probably be spending all of her newfound free time at the computer anyway, digging into hidden archives to find anything she could on "Lord English".

But for the moment, at least, she would enjoy her day. Crossing the room, Roxy threw open the doors to her small balcony, letting in the breeze as she languorously sprawled on the sofa before she reached into her schoolbag to pull out her computer. Once she logged in, using the fingerprint scanner instead of a password, she quickly got to work.

Her past attempts had made it more than obvious that simple searches of things pertinent to the name Lord English were less than fruitful, returning only tidbits of folklore and fable that while interesting were also very useless in the search for Jane and Dirk. The main problem she had here was that she had nothing concrete to go on—no real names, no websites, not even an IP address! All she had was the name of the organisation, and they were apparently very careful to cover their tracks.

She toyed briefly with the idea of announcing their existence to the world and enlisting everyone's help to search—surely if hundreds of thousands of people were looking for them, they couldn't remain hidden for long—but ultimately discarded it; there was no real proof of Lord English being a real organization other than the evidence AR had found, which would be difficult to explain at best, and if she did announce it, then she would lose the element of surprise, which was currently the only thing on her side. The group didn't know she was looking for them; if they did find out about that, they might come after her and Jake, too, and she couldn't have that.

No, her secrecy was her advantage and she was going to keep it that way. Roxy Lalonde thrived in the dark, it would seem, and she was going to use every ounce of her abilities to save her friends. She already felt awful about losing them to begin with—for a good part of the way home, she'd had to force herself to remain happy and not grieve over the fact that Dirk wasn't here to share her ice cream party to celebrate the end of finals, or that she couldn't go over to Jane's place to drag the other girl around the room in a crazy happy dance and spend the evening in her company.

"God, I miss you," she sighed, leaning her head back against the cushions. "I wish you were home." It was infuriating how little she'd been able to come up with in the month that Dirk and Jane had been missing, and there was a conscious ache in her chest every time she thought of them.

Not for the first time, Roxy reached for her communicator and dialed Jane's number. It rang, and rang, and rang, with no answer.

"Hi there! You've reached the inbox of Jane Crocker, which means either I'm busy or I just didn't feel like answering your call, I guess. Please leave a message!" Jane's voice chirped. She sounded bright and happy, just like Roxy remembered, and she swallowed hard.

"Hey, Janey. You're probably going to think I'm so crazy when you get home and there's like fifty of my messages on your inbox, but I just... I just really wanted to hear your voice, you know. I can talk to AR and it's kind of like I'm talking to Dirk, and that hurts a bit, but it hurts more that there's nothing to talk to for you. I miss you. I finished my classes today, but it wasn't as fun as I thought even though I went and got myself ice cream. It would have been better if you were here with cookies or something! Maybe we can go—" there was a short beep, and she realized the time allotted for her to speak had ended. This always happened; she tried to talk too much and it never really worked.

"Fuck..." she breathed, slouching further into the couch. "Just come home already."

But wishes didn't get anything done, no matter how much one wanted them to. If she wanted Jane and Dirk to come home, she had to _bring _them home. And she was damn well going to. With a deep breath, Roxy tucked her hair behind her ears, sat up, and began digging.

* * *

Hours later, when the sun had set and the moon was just rising above the city, Roxy had reached something of a dilemma. Here, she had finally, after grueling effort and reading and rereading so much code that her eyes hurt, finally reached one of the secret archives that the Batterwitch's forces kept some of their information in. But this was one of the less encrypted ones—which was probably the only reason it hadn't taken her _days _to crack it—and the information she was looking for wasn't here. But there was a problem, even though she knew what she had to do if she wanted to keep digging deeper.

If she did, they would definitely notice that she was in their system, and then all hell would break loose, probably, because they had hackers just as good as she was on their side, for certain. Maybe even better, though that was doubtful. But the point was, they might be able to trace her path back to this computer in this apartment, and then her cover would be blown, and that was kind of a big gamble to take.

Was it worth the risk? She wouldn't allow herself to be stupid and try to be selfless without thinking and just say "Dirk and Jane are worth any risk!" because that was wrong. They were worth everything, and that meant that she had to be smart about it. She couldn't just go get herself tossed in prison alongside them because of impulsive decision-making. Well, not alongside them, per se, because the Batterwitch would have her and Lord English had them, and then Jake would be the only one left, and it wouldn't be fair to ask him to lead a revolution alone or to ask him to try to rescue any of them.

Speaking of the revolution... they really hadn't done anything since the catastrophe of the march. That wouldn't do. She had to do something to keep up the spirit, to make sure that the soul of the revolution remained alive. It was what they had worked for, it was what Dirk and Jane had sacrificed so much to accomplish, and she couldn't let it fall to pieces because she and Jake were too caught up in their grief to carry on. She needed to come up with something poignant, and maybe discuss it with Jake in five days when they met up like they always did on weekends...

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a harsh pounding on the door.

"Open this door!" a voice commanded. Roxy sat bolt upright, her heart pounding in shock. She didn't know that voice; who was there?

Activating her invisibility, she stole over to the door and looked through the peephole for just an instant before she drew back in alarm, one hand flying to her mouth to cover any gasp she might have let out. On the pavement outside her apartment door was a group of soldiers, dressed in the green-and-white of Lord English's forces! How had they found her!?

There was no time to wonder that, though, she had to get the fuck out of here! And her laptop, covered in supposed-to-be-encrypted files and government secrets, that had to come with her. She stuffed it and her communicator into her schoolbag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Open this door!" the leader demanded again, harshly pounding on the wood. If they tried to use force to break in, which she had no doubt they would soon, it wouldn't hold long. Thinking fast, she dragged a chair over and jammed it under the handle—it might buy her a few precious seconds, and then ran to the bedroom, closing the closet door and locking it before she did the same to the outer bedroom door, leaving herself standing in the living room. She cast an anxious look to the door when _BAM!_

Someone must have started kicking it. Panicking, she conjured a large block of generic green substance, and leaned that against the door too, before she closed the balcony doors, locking herself outside, and carefully began to climb down, scraping her fingers against the rough brick of the building as she clutched desperately at it so that she didn't fall. Hopefully she could stay in the shadow of her balcony long enough that if she accidentally lost her focus and became visible, no one would see her... fuck, ow, her hands were being scraped raw by the bricks. If they started bleeding, they would get slippery, and it would be that much easier to fall.

Damn it all! Dirk was the one who could climb buildings and all this shit, not her! She was so far up it was breathtaking and she was terrified, almost too scared to move, but she knew she had to because she couldn't stay up here. Her arms were killing her already as she slowly, painstakingly climbed down the bricks, barely daring to breathe until her feet were on the ground. Fuck, her hands were bleeding now, and so was her knee that she'd scraped against the side of the building, fuck fuck fuck!

The soldiers wouldn't be held off by her ruse of pretending that she had hidden in the closet for long. She had to get out of here, fast. Hefting her schoolbag and making sure that every part of her was totally invisible, Roxy took off running lightly down the darkened streets, avoiding the streetlamps that provided light for other passerby as much as she could until she reached the entrance to the old tunnels. This was the only place she knew to go to, so here she was; entering the secret base of operations was a relief as the hidden door slid shut behind her.

Her home was compromised now. She might go back in a day or two and see what she could salvage from it, but she couldn't live there anymore. It was a kind of shocking revelation, but at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been; this place was already like a secondary home. No, she was more worried about Jake now. But he hadn't been searching or anything illegal; he was probably safe. All the same, she would get AR to check on him at the first available opportunity, which was to say about now.

Wincing, she used the tip of her pinky to speed-dial Dirk's number on her communicator, frowning when she noticed a little bit of blood had gotten onto the screen.

Examining her hands told Roxy that the wounds were broad but shallow; most of the skin was scraped and rubbed off by chafing against the bricks and bearing most of her weight on the rough surface. Still, they were bleeding all over the place and it stung like hell! As she waited for AR to answer, she gingerly picked up the communicator and carried it to the kitchen, where there was a drawer with a first aid kit that included bandages. But first she'd have to wash her hands.

"Hey, Roxy," AR greeted blandly. "What's up?"

"Ow! Fuck!" Roxy yelped at the same time, having tried to run water over her palms.

"Roxy?" he asked, sounding almost worried. "Are you okay?"

"Fuck," she gasped, cradling her hands to her body. "That hurt. Ow. Hey, AR, uh, yeah, I'm okay, just tore up my hands climbing down the side of a building...oh..." The adrenaline rush was wearing off now, and she was painfully aware of her heart thrumming in her chest and the pain from her hands radiating up her arms, and how tired her arms and legs were from the climb. "Fuck..."

"Why the fuck did you climb down the side of a building?" he asked, in a way that communicated a frown to her.

"Soldiers. Greenies. English ones. They came to my apartment. I don't know exactly how or what tipped them off, because I sure as hell haven't found them, but fuck, ow, okay, I have to bandage this, how the hell do I do that? But AR, I need you to check on Jake, please. Make sure he's okay."

There was a pause during which Roxy guessed AR was processing this information. "Will do," he finally said, "but I'm calling you back immediately, and you better answer."

She smiled wanly. "Of course I will!"

"Good. Okay, just a minute."

The call ended with a click. Roxy winced, looking at her hands again, though at least now that she'd forced herself to hold them in the cold stream of water, they didn't look as bad. They still hurt like shit though. Heaving a sigh, she started to awkwardly bandage the left one, winding the cloth around it as best as she could with an injured right hand. About when she'd finished, the communicator began to chime, alerting her to AR's call.

"Hey," she greeted offhandedly, moving on to her right hand. It was a little easier now because at least her left hand was already bandaged.

"Hey," AR replied. "Jake's fine. He seemed a bit confused, but there has been no suspicious activity around him. He promised to let you know if anything happened."

"You didn't tell him about me?" she asked, nonplussed.

"No," he replied as if it should have been obvious. "I just told him not to go visit your place anytime soon. He isn't on the encrypted network over there, remember?"

"Oh. Right, sorry. I forgot."

"I noticed."

"Give me a break, I had a bit of an ordeal, okay?" she huffed, sliding down to sit on the tiled floor.

"Yeah, so you mentioned. What exactly happened?" Now he sounded genuinely concerned, and Roxy sighed. What was there to say? She was pretty confused, too. All she knew was that somehow they had found her.

"I don't really know," she confessed. "I came home, I started hacking, they broke down my door, I got the hell out of there, and I called you. Oh, and I brought my computer, so at least they aren't going to get their hands on it anytime soon."

"Well, that's a fucking relief. Are you okay? How did you escape, anyway?"

"Hey now, mister awesome skills, I have some tricks up my sleeve, too! I locked the closet and bedroom so it would look like I hid in there, and I climbed out from the balcony. Hurt like a bitch, though. That damn brick is not made to be climbed on without gloves or something! Also, did you know bandaging your hands when they are both bleeding all over the place is fucking hard? Because it is really fucking hard."

"I see," AR said.

"Yeah."

"It seems that you are in a troubling predicament," he observed.

"No shit," Roxy snorted. "Well, you're not wrong, Dirky." Ughhhh. How was she supposed to type code like this? It was going to be such a _pain_... literally. Well, that at least was something Dirk and Jane were worth that she didn't have to think much about doing. It would hurt for now, but hey, if she found something that would get them out, then it was better if she did it sooner rather than later.

"I'm never wrong," he said proudly.

She laughed at that. "Okay, okay. Whatever floats your boat! But anyway, there was something else I wanted to tell you about..."

"Oh?"

"We need to do something to keep the movement going, regardless of whether Dirk and Jane are with us. I don't want to think about not being able to get them back, but..."

"But Jake sure as hell isn't going to and someone has to consider the possibility," AR finished. "I agree. Did you have any ideas?"

"No, not really," she confessed. "Do you?"

"Actually, yes, I do. But if you want to do it, it'll include you going out into the city. Is that alright?"

"It's not like I can stay down here forever," she snorted.

"This is true. Okay, so for now, this is what I'm thinking of..."

Later that night, so late that it was almost early, Roxy stole back into the secret hideaway, exhausted but satisfied with herself. It had been damn hard to pull off, with injured hands and also trying to avoid being caught, but invisibility helped and now the deed was done. In the morning, people stopped and stared in the Grand Square, the site of the massacre a month ago, because loud and bold in bright colors painted on the walls of the guardhouse were words that were poignant indeed:

_"__I believe in the Shaded Prince and the Masked Maiden. Their spirit will never die."_

* * *

_AN: Okay! So... not much Jake in this chapter, sorry. But lots of Roxy! Roxy is my darling and I love her. :D She's coming along nicely, too, because as the leadership role goes to her she has to change and develop to fit it. Ah, I just love Roxy hehe! She's awesome._

_Snowy - Well, I'm posting review responses here for now, so read to your heart's delight :P and aww, I was only joking about the fanbase! xD Oh my god, that crackpot theory made me laugh. A lot. It was beautiful. I shan't confirm or deny anything, though! ;/ Good luck with the classwork or whatever was due!_

_Pony - Um... well, I don't really have much to say. I suppose you could review the chapter?_

_Raven - Yes, the beta kids! c: I'm excited for them, they make me happy._

_Wisdom - No problem! I love talking about this AU. :D It is a bit complicated, I guess, so if you have any other questions feel free to ask! And thank you so much for the compliments c:_

_Smartbrainmonkey - Jaaaaaaade! :D (Evil authorial cackling)_

_Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing!_


	25. Chapter 25: Jade - Wanderers II

Ugh... Jade felt absolutely _awful_. That was the first thing she noticed as consciousness slowly started to trickle back to her. Her body ached terribly, she was thirsty and hungry, her head was killing her, and she felt way too exhausted to move. Opening her eyes seemed to be the most effort she could possibly exert; her limbs were leaden and it seemed like a titanic task to twitch a finger. Couldn't she just... lie here... and go to sleep... wait, where was 'here', anyway?

It didn't matter. She hadn't died so far, wherever she was, and that meant it would be okay if she allowed herself to drift away again, right?

Wait.

She hadn't died, but there was a distinct lack of hands in her own, no figures lying next to her. The last thing she remembered was holding Dave and Rose's hands as tightly as she could before she flung them all into the void between universes... into the void... A terrible, terrible horrible awful thought struck her then. Oh no, oh no oh no, oh god no, had she—had she killed them? Had she just sent them to their deaths in the bright green emptiness? Where was she? Suddenly it didn't seem so unimportant anymore, and with a hard knot of fear pushing away the clutches of exhaustion, Jade found the strength to open her eyes and push herself up onto her elbows, blinking a few times against the bright sunlight. She was in one of their tents, albeit one that was roughly patched together, and the flap that made the entrance was tied back, allowing light to stream in from the forest outside. Jade coughed, her throat feeling way too dry. How long had she been lying here?

"Jade?" It was Dave's voice, oh thank god he was alright! He hurried into the tent, kneeling by her side, and helped her sit up, albeit leaning heavily against him. Even that was a lot of effort, but she was just so, so happy he was alive and safe!

"Where—" she tried, coughing again. Dave seemed to have anticipated that she'd be thirsty, and wordlessly held a cup to her lips. After she'd finished it, she tried again. "Where are we?"

"You don't know?" he asked, shifting her weight so that he could lift her more easily.

"I have a vague idea," she said weakly, trying to smile. Was he angry? "Did... did it work?"

"If you mean whatever the green thing was, then I guess so," he answered. "Hang on, I'm taking you outside so I can stay on watch."

"'Kay," she mumbled, closing her eyes and leaning her head on his shoulder. Dave stood, carrying her without too much effort—from years of swordsman training with his brother, he had a measure of wiry strength in his lean body—out of the tent into a forest clearing, where he sat in the grass with his back to the tent so that they could see the rest of the woods around them.

"You okay?" he asked after a moment. When she opened her eyes, she saw him studying her with a hint of concern.

"I feel awful," she moaned, letting her head fall against his shoulder again. It was easier to lean on him than it was to remain upright of her own volition, and she was just so, so very tired.

"If you did what I'm pretty sure you did, I'm not fucking surprised," was the response.

"Are you angry?" she asked. Dave could be really hard to read sometimes, even though she'd known him for years. Mostly she could tell, but this was just one of those times when she honestly wasn't sure. She really hoped he wasn't angry, though, because she didn't think she could go back. Definitely not now, not in this state. Ugh, she was never universe-jumping again!

"No." He sighed and patted her shoulder. "Just a little overwhelmed. That was quite a goddamn stunt you pulled, you know."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"What for? You saved all of our asses, at least."

"I... I didn't really think about it. But we can't go back, not at all..."

"I know. There's nothing for us there anyway," he replied dully. Jade looked up at him. Now she could see, plain as day, what he was thinking—he was remembering his brother. The last they'd seen of Dirk Strider was his grave, a simple unmarked affair outside of the city proper, in the same place that everyone that the Batterwitch's armies killed surreptitiously ended up. It was more than Jade and John's grandparents had gotten, but not by much. It wasn't like they could go visit often, and even if they did, what was the point?

"Dave..."

"It doesn't matter anymore," he shook his head dismissively. "What's done is done, Harley. Don't stress over it."

"No, it's... there's something I should tell you—wait," she suddenly realized—how could she not have realized sooner?—Dave was the only one here. "Where are Rose and John? Are they alright? Did—"

"Calm down!" he interrupted. "They're fine. They went off to town again to see if they could find anything useful in terms of information."

"Again?" she blinked. "What do you mean, again?"

"Jade. You have been lying in that tent for two days."

Somehow, the news wasn't as surprising as it might have been. Jade just took it in for a moment, and then with a weak laugh, said, "Grandpa always did say I slept too much."

"Oh for fuck's sake," Dave shook his head, but he was smiling just a little, so Jade counted her joke as successful.

"But... that does explain why I'm so hungry," she added, softly interlacing her fingers with his. "Do we... do we have any food around here?"

"Yeah, we do. I'll go get you some bread, just a minute." Dave stood and walked back into the tent. Jade remained sitting outside, leaning on an arm that was propping her up in his place. Her thoughts swirled uneasily through her mind; so, as she'd hoped, they were in a new universe, and everyone was alright, but what were they supposed to do now? She hadn't really thought this far ahead—hadn't really thought what a toll universe-jumping was going to take on her, either; she had no idea how long it would take her to feel well again. She was still absolutely exhausted and waves of pain were dully rolling all over her body, though at least it wasn't the sharp stabbing tearing pain that usually came. She must have been unconscious for the most of that. _I guess I should count my blessings_, she surmised.

But... there was something else that she didn't think Dave, Rose, or John knew. Well, maybe Rose might have known, due to her visions, but it was doubtful. Jade sighed, shaking her head but immediately regretting it as her vision swam. She'd tried to find the best universe for them to go to that she could, she really had! But even her enormously augmented powers weren't enough to navigate the void between universes for long. Being there drained her energy at a gigantic rate, because she had to fight to hold every last molecule and atom that made up herself and her family and all their belongings together as the void fought to reduce them to nothingness. It was like nothing she'd ever dreamed of, not even in her worst nightmares.

But the end result was that this universe was pretty similar to their old one. The biggest difference was, well, the one that she thought would be the first qualification to finding a new universe, and that was their family members.

As far as she knew, Grampa, Nanna, Dirk, and Ms. Lalonde should all be alive.

There was a difference, though; she knew she hadn't landed in quite the right one. She'd seen it, floating by in the void, but it was too far away and she couldn't make it, so she had dived into the closest similar universe, and here they were. Now it seemed like they were all around the same age as their former guardians, which would be strange, to say the least, but at least they were _there_ and not dead, right?

The question was, how did she tell Dave, John, and Rose about this?

Dave returned at that moment, folding his lanky legs to sit next to her again and holding a slice of bread, a piece of which he broke and held to her lips. "Here, don't eat too fast," he said as she eagerly accepted it, not having realized quite how ravenous she was until the food was offered. He studied her for a moment, and feeding her the next piece, commented, "You really do look like shit."

"Thanks Dave," Jade said wryly between bites of bread. "That's what every girl wants to hear."

"Yes. It is like fucking music to your ears, I'm sure."

"Only comparable to your smooth beats," she giggled.

"Exactly. So smooth you couldn't even ice-skate on it, because if you tried you wouldn't be able to turn because it is so goddamn smooth that there is no fucking friction at all and you'd just keep on going and going and going."

Jade laughed at that. Dave's metaphorical mannerisms were always amusing; he was... he was something else. "But would you hit a wall at some point?"

"Nah. It was too smooth for them to build any walls. Those building crews just up and quit. Said it was too fucking smooth and they couldn't even walk, so they just sat there on strike until someone threw them a rope," he answered, offering her the last piece of the bread slice. "Here, have some more water."

She drank gratefully, feeling a little bit improved after that nourishment. "Thanks, Dave."

"No problem," he shrugged and wrapped an arm around her shoulders again so that she could lean on him. "You really do look like shit, though. Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"No, not yet," Jade sighed. "I'm going to wait until John and Rose get back."

"You sure?" he asked a little skeptically.

"Yes, I'm sure! Or I guess, I could rephrase it as 'I'm going to _try _to wait until John and Rose get back', if that makes you happier."

"Yes. It does."

"Oh, whatever! Jeez."

He cracked a grin down at her, and she returned it with a tired one of her own. But then his expression grew more serious again, and almost hesitantly, he began again. "So... in that case, can I ask you something?"

"Go for it," she replied, resting her head against his shoulder once more. She was pretty sure she already knew what he was going to say: some variant on "what did you do anyway?". But the thing she wasn't sure about was how exactly she was going to answer that...

"What the hell exactly happened?" he asked, just as she'd figured.

"I... we're in a different universe now," she replied, surprised when he didn't stiffen or pull away or do anything else that suggested that he was very taken aback at all. Instead, he just nodded as if she had confirmed his own suspicions.

"I thought so. Didn't know you could do that, though."

"Neither did I," Jade confessed. "I was just desperate, because... because I didn't want to go back, and I didn't want them to get their hands on you guys, and... it seemed like the better option."

Dave rubbed her shoulder soothingly. "I don't blame you. That last universe, I think we can all agree, was pretty fucking shitty."

"But, um... there's something about this one that you should know," she said tentatively, trying to gauge his reaction before she broached the topic.

"What would that be?" He raised an eyebrow curiously, and Jade felt her heart sink. Was he going to take this well? She had no idea, and that honestly scared her.

"Um... so I really, really should have talked this over with you guys before I did it, but I didn't think of it before and I never thought I'd have to jump universes to begin with, and—"

"You're rambling," he interrupted, his voice just a little flat in an indication that he had picked up on the fact that she was pretty sure that this was going to be bad news. "What is it?"

"I..." she took a deep breath, glad that leaning against his side kept her from having to make eye contact as she said it, and took the plunge. "Your brother is alive."

He stiffened as if she'd dropped a bucket of icy water down his back. "You... I... you mean..."

Jade stayed silent, unsure of what to say but cringing just a little because she knew, she knew so well that under his façade he was still raw and hurting from Dirk's death, he'd never really come to terms with it and he'd just shoved it away and tried not to think of it, he'd never been able to accept it the way Rose had her mother or been able to at least even allow himself to grieve as much as he hurt like she and John had cried into each other's arms, and now suddenly she was telling him Dirk wasn't dead again, and it had to be taking some kind of toll and she just wanted to hug him, so she did, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his shoulder.

"Holy shit," he breathed, and then the next thing she knew, he had crushed her to his chest in a hug. "_Holy shit_." And suddenly, he was laughing softly, almost as though he might cry instead, but the important thing was that he was happy, and Jade relaxed.

"There is one thing, though," she added softly after a moment. "I don't think he's your older brother."

Dave froze again, though he didn't loosen his hold on her. "What do you mean?"

"I tried to find a universe that was the best one. For some reason they're grouped by similar characteristics, in a way, but I didn't have enough power to leave the little cluster of ones that we were around, so I picked the optimal one of those. And I was looking for one where our families weren't dead, and there was one where it seemed right but I knew that I couldn't make it without dropping someone, so I picked this one. And they're all alive, but it's like they switched with us, in a way, so your brother, Rose's mom, and Grampa and Nanna are all our ages, and I think that to them, we're the other family members," she attempted to explain. It was weird and complicated, but that was the best way to describe her knowledge that she could come up with.

"So... to him, I'm the older brother or something?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, I think so," she nodded against his chest, stifling a yawn.

Dave shook his head slowly, processing this information. "Holy shit," he slowly repeated after a few seconds. "Holy fucking shit."

Jade risked a glance up at him. He was still smiling, though he also seemed to be more thoughtful now. But at least he looked happy; that was what she was concerned with. They would sort out everything else later.

"So," he said after a few minutes. "What other weird shit is this universe going to throw at us?"

She considered for a second, idly tapping her fingers against his side in absent thought. "I don't really know. A lot of it is a lot like our old one, which sucks! There's still a Batterwitch, I know, and the cities are the same, and all that. Honestly, I think most stuff is the same..." she trailed off.

"Except our families aren't all fucking dead, huh?" he finished. "Space does some weird shit."

"Hey, you know a good bit of this is all your weird confusing timeline stuff!" she pointed out, closing her eyes. She was starting to feel pretty tired again... maybe she could just rest her head for a few minutes here.

"Yeah, true... hey! Are you going to sleep on me?"

"No," she mumbled drowsily. "You're warm and I'm tired, that's all."

"Told you you weren't going to stay awake until John and Rose get back," he said with a hint of smugness, tucking her head under his chin and stroking her short hair. "Go to sleep, Harley."

"Mhm," she sighed. Dave knew full well that playing with her hair was one of the easiest ways to soothe her, and this time was no exception. Since she was already as exhausted as she was, the repetitive, gentle motion was more enough to entice her to depart the waking world in favor of the realms of slumber.

She woke again a few hours later, groggy but not as fatigued or pained as she had been when she finally woke up from her two-day-long faint. Dave was still there, though he had relaxed his hold enough that her head was resting in his lap now rather than against his shoulder. But what had woken her was the fact that there were voices—

"Jade!" John scooped her up from Dave's lap out of the blue, eliciting a yelp of surprise from her, and hugged her tightly enough that she gasped. "Oh my god I'm so happy you're awake, you really worried me!"

"John, I think you're squishing her," Rose laughed, walking over to stand next to the two of them with her hands clasped in front of her as she watched their antics.

"Oh, oops. Sorry. But jeez, Jade!" her brother exclaimed.

"I didn't exactly mean to pass out for two days!" she laughed, ruffling his hair. "I'm glad to see you, too, though."

John grinned and hugged her again, more carefully this time, which her aching body appreciated, before he set her down. Rose immediately seized the chance to embrace her as well, and Jade smiled at her when she pulled back.

"So, what did you both do all day?" she asked.

Rose and John exchanged glances. "Well, for one thing, we found out some stuff that could be important. For example, some people are trying to overthrow the Batterwitch," John said.

"What?" Dave frowned.

"No one really knows who's behind it, from what we could glean, but their last attempt at a march ended in disaster. A lot of people died, and the organizers seemed to vanish. No one knows if they're alive or not. But apparently, two nights ago, some interesting graffiti appeared that suggested at least some of their supporters are still active," Rose reported.

"Interesting graffiti?" Jade cocked her head curiously, unceremoniously plopping down next to Dave again. Rose followed suit, while John pulled his legs up and sat on a puff of air just a little bit above the ground.

"Yes. 'I believe in the Shaded Prince and the Masked Maiden'—those were the pseudonyms of those leaders that went missing when their supporters were slaughtered—'and their spirits will never die.'" Rose quoted. "I wonder if we could find out who is in charge of this... I would like to meet them."

"And shake their hand pretty hard," John added. "It takes guts to do something like that!"

"Right, and it doesn't take guts to do what we've been doing for the past few years," Dave drawled.

"I didn't say that," John huffed. "Just that they must be pretty cool!"

"Boys, boys, do calm down," Rose interjected smoothly, seeming amused. "We also found that this Witch does not specifically hunt Time or Space mages."

"Wait, wait, wait," Jade interrupted. "You're saying 'this' Batterwitch. So you already know what I did, right?"

"We guessed," John shrugged. "Dave blabbered some stuff about alternate timelines and weird crap that I don't remember, but what we got from it was that this is a different universe. That's right, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Jade nodded, tugging him down from his slightly lofty perch so she could lean against his shoulder more comfortably. "There's a few differences, I don't know much about what they are, but... um... certain people are alive in this universe that weren't when we left the other one."

John gaped at her, incredulous. "Wait, what? You don't mean—you mean that—?"

"Not exactly," she said hastily. "There's some weird timeline stuff going on or whatever, so it's like temporally they were swapped with us. Or something like that. So Nanna and Grampa in this universe are the same age as you and me."

Looking over at Rose told her that the Light mage was bright-eyed, one hand covering her mouth to hide the gasp that probably had escaped. "So... my mother—well, she isn't my mother right now, I suppose—but she is alive and well?"

"Yeah," Jade said with a little smile. "I tried to bring us to a universe where our families weren't dead. But I didn't have the energy to get it totally right..." Ugh, just _thinking_ about universe-jumping was reminding her how tired she was. As if not to let her forget about her ridiculous amounts of power, either, a sudden jolt of pain stabbed through her, and she let out a little choked gasp, curling in on herself defensively.

"Jade?!" John gathered her into his arms fretfully. Dave and Rose both moved forward, anxious expressions on their faces, but she shook her head and weakly waved them back.

"It's okay," she gasped. "I just... it hurts you know. Ow." But the pain was fading slowly, just having come and gone, and she slowly straightened again, though she could tell that she was trembling. Damn it all! How long was it going to be until she could even properly stand again? Her brain was working fine, but her body was so, so very drained... "Sorry, guys! I'm okay, don't worry."

They didn't look too convinced, but resumed the discussion.

"So you were saying she actually isn't trying to hunt down and kidnap us?" Jade prompted. "That's good, right?"

John and Rose exchanged glances. "Um... no, not really," her brother said. "She doesn't specifically hunt Space and Time. Here she goes for _everyone_."

"You have _got _to be kidding me," Dave muttered. "So no magic at all?"

"Nope," John affirmed. "She's got some kind of Mages' College in general, not just the Space and Time Academy."

"Fantastic," the Time mage said. "Don't go flying around all the time then. Keep your windy ass on the ground, Egbert."

"Yeah, yeah, I know! Jeez, Dave, give me a little credit here!" John laughed.

As they began to descend into friendly banter as they always did, Jade began to withdraw from the conversation. A wave of wooziness was coming over her, like it had earlier when she fell asleep on Dave, but she really didn't want to pass out again. Focusing all she could on staying awake, she completely tuned out from the exchange. "Um... guys? I don't... I don't feel so good," she was vaguely aware of saying, right before the ground seemed to heave and she lost all sense of balance, collapsing.

"Jade?" It was Rose's voice, she registered. But she was so, so tired... "Jade, listen to me. Do you hear me? Nod if you can, please." She said something else, to Dave or John, that Jade didn't catch. So tired... sleeping sounded wonderful right now... but because Rose had asked it of her, she gave the barest of nods before slumping again.

"Jade! Don't go to sleep just yet. Here, eat this," and something was being pressed to her lips. Weakly, she ate it, surprised to find that it was a piece of chocolate. "The sugar should give you a little boost. Come on, stay with me."

The sugar did indeed give her a little boost, and Jade found the strength to open her eyes. She had fallen against Rose, who was currently supporting her. "Did... did I faint?"

"Holy _shit _don't ever do that again," John begged, watching with wide eyes.

"Dave, pass me a banana, would you?" Rose asked, peeling the fruit once it was handed to her. "Here. You need more nourishment, too. Have you eaten anything all day?"

"Some bread," Jade managed, taking a bite of the banana. "Can I have water?"

John passed the waterskin over, squeezing his sister's limp hand. "Are you okay?"

"Just... really tired," she sighed. "I'll be fine." The overwhelming exhaustion was still hanging over her head, but she didn't want to sleep just yet. She wanted to hear what else John and Rose had discovered, wanted to stop feeling so ridiculously awful, wanted to not be lying there like an invalid! It was kind of infuriating. She didn't like it at all.

He looked unconvinced, and beside him Dave gave her his characteristic skeptical face, one eyebrow ever-so-lightly raised.

"I will be!" she insisted.

"She will be," Rose agreed, her long fingers gently stroking Jade's hair back from her face. "However, she is not fine right now. You should rest, Jade."

"Do I have to?" Jade sighed. "I don't want to, I just woke up..."

"We'll give you five minutes," John decided. "And no, you don't get to push your bedtime. And also no, no one is waking you up for watch, before you even _consider _asking as stupid a question as that."

"Well then, rude, John," she laughed weakly. "Okay, fine. Just tell me... what else did you guys do?"

"We walked around town and found out a bit about the culture. They have a legend about Lord English just like we did, but it's a little different in some ways. Something about a group of heroes rather than a singular knight. But the most important stuff for us seems to be this revolution. If we can get rid of the Empress, we won't have to live on the run like this!" John grinned.

"So our priority is finding out who's in charge now that their Prince and Maiden or whoever are gone, huh?" Dave said.

"I'm going to look for that tonight," Rose nodded. "Hopefully I will have an answer that we can use sometime soon."

"That would be nice," Jade smiled.

"Now, off to bed with you," John instructed. "Before you faint again. Please don't do that, that was terrifying."

"I didn't mean to..." she whined as he lifted her on the wind. It felt more than a little precarious, being supported by thin air, but she trusted that John wasn't about to drop her as he carried her to the tent and gently tucked her into the pile of blankets in the middle.

"Good night, Jade. And... thanks."

"For what?" she blinked sleepily.

"For giving us all a fresh start!" he replied, squeezing her hands. "Now go to sleep. You'll be better in the morning."

"Mmm, okay," she smiled as he leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Night, John."

"Good night, Jade."

The stars glimmered overhead as the four settled into their places for the night, pondering what this new world could bring to them.

* * *

_AN: Fainting is not fun, by the way. It's a little terrifying, actually. And yes, bananas help. xD Also, because today is International Literacy Day (hence me pushing myself to get a chapter out), I'm taking short drabble requests! Send them in to my tumblr (adreamingsongbird . tumblr ask) if you'd like. _

_I'd also like to ask a few things of you guys! First, do you have any songs that you think fit this AU? I like "Vanilla Twilight" by Owl City and "Demons" by Imagine Dragons so far, as well as a few others. c: And second, does anyone have an idea for a general name for this AU so I don't have to keep saying "for this AU"? So far I've got either Prophecystuck or Revolutionstuck, but I'm very very very open to other suggestions. Thanks guys!_

_Pony - Yeah, she ran._

_Snowy - Nope, definitely not one whit over the top. ;/ I mean, you obviously completely cracked any riddle I had for the prophecy with that one. Obviously. I'm glad it was exciting! I wanted it to be pretty climatic and all that. ...is that a challenge? How many ways can I make this extremely sad without killing anyone? What if I take that as a challenge? _

_Rouge - Hmm... you tell me, are the betas in the alpha world? ;D This chapter should have cleared that up! And yes Roxy baby c: I love her. She is so awesome._

_LordBeannut - Oh my god I typed LordWalnut because I associate that with you now. Anyway no prob, trust me I understand school is busy 0_0 The alphas and betas haven't met yet, but they will eventually! c: Jade's not in a coma, thankfully, just pretty sick and tired from that whole universe-hopping thing she pulled. And Lord English's forces knew about Roxy thanks to Dirk, remember? (also I think you misread that part with AR, or I was unclear, sorry! Roxy said that she couldn't stay down there forever. Sorry for the misconception!)_

_Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! :D_


	26. Chapter 26: Jane - Despair

Jane really, really hated this cell.

It was small and dim enough to be hard to see, but not pitch-black, just an irritatng grey tone everywhere that left her squinting even though she was still wearing her glasses—it was a wonder they didn't have more than just a few annoying scratches on the lenses—and the walls were just big enough to remind her of how alone she was but not big enough that she could feel anything other than claustrophobia.

Ugh... had she mentioned how much she hated this cell yet?

Huffing out a breath, she slumped to the ground after pacing for a good hour or so out of a mixture of boredom and nervous energy, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them before resting her chin atop her forearm so that she could sit in a tight ball against the wall that faced the door. By her estimation, it had been about two weeks, give or take a few days, since that awful, awful morning when they'd nearly branded her arm and Dirk had instead given them Roxy's name.

Jane still wasn't sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she was very, very glad that that red-hot iron had stayed away from her—she still shuddered at the thought of it, instinctively shying away from the memory of the extreme heat—because to be honest, it had absolutely terrified her, to her very core. Perhaps she was weaker than she'd thought, or perhaps it was just that as a healer, the prospect of intentionally hurting others really, really didn't sit well with her. Or perhaps it was just that torture was scary and horrible in general. Yeah, that seemed pretty accurate.

But on the other hand... _Roxy_. Jane was worried sick about her best friend, the girl who'd held her as she sobbed about her father and grandfathers' deaths, who had always been by her side, ending up here in this awful Batterwitch prison alongside both of them—_no, stop_, she told herself sternly. _It does you no good to fret about what may or may not happen. Stop worrying about her. She's out of your hands now._

She had been trying to tell herself this for days now. It wasn't really working. She couldn't stop anxiously wondering whether the other girl was alright. The Batterwitch was ruthless; surely she would hunt her down! But Jane couldn't accept the thought of Roxy being captured either. She didn't know what to think anymore, and it was kind of starting to drive her mad. She wanted answers, not this stupid, infernal cell! The days in between these questioning sessions were almost worse than the sessions themselves—not that she was in a hurry to be threatened with a branding iron again, no thank you. Keep those as far away from her body as possible, please and thank you! Dirk had saved her from it this time, but could she count on that for next time too?

Honestly, she had no idea what to make of Dirk, either. He'd been acting strange recently, as if wondering whether he would sacrifice her or Roxy was easy to ponder to begin with! At least, she reflected cynically, it was better that he had gambled Roxy than Jake. She loved them both dearly and it kind of felt like she was betraying Roxy with that thought, but from a completely objective standpoint, it made more sense to have said Roxy's name than Jake's because there was a much greater chance that the soldiers had seen her, considering the lack of warning before the march turned into a massacre. But at least this meant that they didn't have her yet, which Jane supposed was encouraging.

But Dirk! He was already somewhat an enigma, but now she felt like she didn't know him at all! He must have been playing some sort of mind game earlier, or _something_, she told herself again, though it didn't feel quite true. But what other explanation for his strange behavior was there? There was no question that they were friends... right? Surely he wasn't angry about something that she'd done. That would be stupid and counterproductive when they were here of all places. Was he angry that she was here too? Maybe he was mad at himself and just took it out on her? But that didn't sound like him, and it didn't make her feel much better either.

Earlier, when they were out in the small stone courtyard with the guard who'd conjured the branding iron and Doctor Scratch, who Jane was really starting to hate, their green-garbed captor had mentioned something about Dirk saying that he didn't care for her. She wasn't sure what to make of that, either. Argh, she wasn't sure what to make of pretty much _anything_ at this point! All that she knew for sure was that she was tired, afraid, nervous, and kind of at her wit's end in general. And also that she hated this cell with a burning passion. Oh, if she could only just have a chance to _talk _to Dirk and find out what he was doing here, what he meant by all whatever he'd been doing, because honestly it hurt, it really hurt when he shunned her in her moments of need like he had. Hopefully whatever he'd been trying to accomplish had worked.

Somehow, she had the feeling it hadn't. Why? Oh, right, because possibly at this very moment soldiers were hunting Roxy down. Right. That meant that they had failed to protect their friends.

But she couldn't blame Dirk, not really. Yes, she was upset about Roxy, but she knew that in his place she would have screamed out before the iron had touched him, would have given in as well. It didn't portend well for the future, though, if they were going to continue like this. Jane didn't like the thought of it, but it was pretty obvious that if they didn't want to just go ahead and spill everything they knew to Doctor Scratch, someone was going to get hurt. No, they _both _were going to get hurt.

Oh, if only they could come up with a plan! At least they could come up with lies to tell, if only they were allowed to speak privately again. And also, despite his strange, cold, distant behavior, Jane really just wanted to see him. That had been one day, two weeks ago; probably her memory was exaggerating it, and anyway she just really, really missed him. Not dismissive, frigid Dirk, but the Dirk who had held her on the night Jake was stabbed, the one who had proudly presented her with Lil Seb a year or so ago, the one who was one of her best friends in the whole world and oh god she missed him, she missed him so much.

How long would it be until they were allowed to see each other again? Was it only going to be the next time that they were brought out for interrogation? Jane hoped not with all her heart, but a sinking feeling told her that it probably was.

* * *

The next day, however, she was distracted from her dreary, woeful thoughts when two guards arrived to fetch her from her cell. A jolt of nerves ran through her, leaving in their wake a pit of anxiety in her core. The shackles that they clasped on her wrists were heavier than ever as she wondered if this was going to be another awful session in which she was nearly branded with a red-hot iron or something similar. Hopefully not; she still remembered all too well how hot it had been, hovering right above her skin, and how scared it made her—no, she had to be strong now. She had to be strong, for Jake and for Roxy and for Dirk.

But to her surprise, they escorted her not to the stone courtyard but instead to a small antechamber or sitting room, not as lavish as the one she'd been in when Doctor Scratch first spoke to them but still much better than a cell, especially that stupid cell that she had been in earlier.

To her further astonishment, they removed the cuffs from her wrists and ordered her to remain in the room, not that she had anywhere to go, as guards were posted at each door and there were no windows. It was kind of disconcerting, actually, to be perpetually without a view of the outside world—the only time she'd really felt sunlight at all during this whole ordeal was when they were out in the stony courtyard, and she really was in no rush to go back out there anytime soon. But she disliked it nonetheless; something in her liked to see the sun and the natural world and just hated being so cut off from everything, on top of just being unsettled from having no idea of the passage of time.

Before Jane could continue pondering the location, though, the doors opened again to admit Dirk. He seemed to receive the same instructions before the doors were closed behind him; when he turned and saw her, his eyes widened. She looked up with a little trepidation, unsure of what to say or do around him now. He seemed to notice her hesitation and began to cross the small room to her, evidently about to say something—_finally_—but just as he arrived next to her, the doors opened once more and Doctor Scratch entered.

Looking annoyed at the interruption before he could speak to her, Dirk didn't say anything, but as he sat down next to her on the sofa, he gently pried her one of her hands apart from the other to intertwine his fingers with hers. Was he trying to say that whatever chilly way he'd been acting before was done and he was now her Dirk again? Jane felt a rush of relief and gave him the smallest flicker of a smile, squeezing his hand, just as Scratch once again settled into the armchair across from the sofa—were all the sitting rooms in this ridiculously magnificent prison that was a lot closer to a palace arranged in the same way?—and began to speak.

"Good afternoon," he greeted with that same oily smile that she now associated with him. "I have some excellent news for you, and a reward for your help in bringing this excellent happenstance about." He paused, examining both Jane and Dirk for a few seconds. Jane was pretty sure that the disgust she was feeling was evident on her face; Dirk probably looked impassive like usual, but his hand tightened on hers. "I am pleased to inform you that thanks to your cooperation in our last questioning period, we have come much closer to our goal. This 'Roxy Lalonde' you spoke of..."

Jane felt her heart leap to her throat, violently wanting to deny the words that she somehow knew he was going to say next.

"...is now in captivity. Thank you _ever _so much."

"No!" she gasped, barely able to stop herself from bursting into tears right then and there. Dirk squeezed her fingers again, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand.

"Prove it," he said, and Jane looked up in surprise. "If you really have her here, I demand to see her."

Scratch leered maliciously, taking obvious delight in their apparent distress. "Oh, but are you truly in any position to be making demands? I think not, Mister Strider."

"I refuse to believe that she is in your captivity until I see proof," Dirk replied frostily, pinning their captor with a harsh glare. However, the other man seemed far from cowed, instead continuing to grin like something was oh so very amusing.

With a gleeful shrug, he said carelessly, "I couldn't care less what you believe, Strider. I think you're forgetting something here." The carefree demeanor vanished suddenly, and he leaned forward intimidatingly. "You are under _my _control now. Everything you know belongs to me. And you have no choice but to accept my words. You're lucky that I'm in a good mood, or your impudence might have gotten your lady friend hurt. You've already threatened my patience once already by lying to me. Do not do it again."

Dirk stiffened ever so slightly next to her, and Jane found that it was her turn to squeeze his hand soothingly. "Don't you fucking _touch _her," he growled, glaring daggers right back at Scratch.

"Dirk," she interrupted hastily, shifting closer so she was close enough to touch his cheek gently, diverting his gaze so that his amber-colored eyes met her blue ones. "It's okay. Don't." She didn't want him to get into a fight with Scratch, not here and not now, especially now. It was already awful enough that Roxy—Roxy was captured, oh god. But she didn't need anything to happen to Dirk too! Not when she had just started to feel better a little bit because he wasn't being strangely distant again. She still wanted to talk to him, see what that was about, but overall she just wanted him to be safe! If that meant that she was going to get threatened, that was okay. She could take harsh words. If the threats were to be carried through... well, she wasn't sure what she would do at that point, but she would have to just cross that bridge when she got to it. In the meantime, she just wanted to protect Dirk.

Scratch smirked across the carpet at them. "At least one of you seems to have some common sense. Perhaps she acts from a sense of self-preservation, perhaps she acts from deference as she should, but it matters not. Either way, you _are _lucky that I am in such a good mood, and that made my mood a little _better_! You two are oh so very amusing, I hope you know."

Jane closed her eyes for a moment, willing herself to remain calm as well. How she wished the man would stop rambling about himself and all this and just let her be! Ugh, she detested him so much. Right now, all she wanted was to talk to Dirk, alone, without this creep lingering and laughing in that obnoxious way of his as he watched her. It was unnerving and made her both unsettled and irritated.

"But I am a busy man, and as amusing as you are," Scratch was saying when she opened her eyes, staring at her and Dirk's intertwined hands rather than at him, "I must go. But as a reward for your complacency in allowing me to acquire another _esteemed guest_, I suppose I will give you something." He stood and swept out of the room; Jane looked up to her friend, mystified, as they both sat in his wake.

"What the fuck," Dirk muttered as the door opened again, admitting four guards.

"You both. Come with us," one of the four demanded. Jane hurriedly stood, Dirk a bit more slowly behind her. The guards didn't seem to bother with cuffs this time, instead taking them back down several flights of stairs into the dungeons that Jane really hated.

But there was a difference this time. She had no idea which cell of the many lining the walls she usually stayed in, or which one Dirk was in, or if either of them was even usually in this area, because everything down here looked the same, but something different happened. The guards roughly shoved her into a cell like usual, seeming to snicker when she stumbled down the steps, but to her surprise they also pushed Dirk in behind her.

The two of them stared at each other for a heartbeat as the guards locked the door and slid the deadbolt across and then walked away, keys jingling.

"Hey," Dirk said quietly, running his hand through his hair. It was a nervous habit that she knew by heart, having known him long enough to be able to see it for what it was. He wasn't meeting her gaze either, staring at the stones near her feet instead. "So... I kind of fucked up earlier... but I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry." He took a deep breath as if to steady himself, then finally looked up to her face, offering a tentative smile and holding out his arms just slightly, as if he was expecting a rejection. It made Jane's heart ache for him, and that was all it took for her to stop feeling rooted to the spot where she was standing and all but fly across the short distance between them, burying her face in his chest.

"Dirk," she murmured, feeling a lot better about being in this stupid cell as he held her tightly. "Oh, Dirk..."

"I'm sorry," he started to say again, but she cut him off before he could finish.

"I forgive you, I forgive you, don't worry, it's okay, we're okay," she said breathlessly, feeling his arms tighten around her as she did. They were both silent for a few moments, just taking in the other's presence and the fact that they were both alright, both here, together for at least a little while without all the worries of this awful place. Jane was pretty sure that she wasn't going to let go of him as long as they were both in the same cell, but at least he seemed to be of the same mindset, so she kept clinging to him and just assuring herself that they were going to be okay, somehow, somehow. Dirk bent his head to press a kiss into her hair, and she blinked back a tear or two that were just welling up from overwhelming emotion in general.

Finally, after a minute or two, she hesitantly broke the silence. "But... can I ask you why?" There was no need to attach an explanation of what she was asking why about; he knew, she was sure, and that thought was confirmed when he stiffened slightly.

"I thought... god, it was pretty fucking dumb in retrospect, but I thought that if I could convince that green piece of shit that we weren't close, he wouldn't try to either hurt you to get me to talk or hurt me to get you to talk. Son of a bitch outplayed me though. That fucker is good at mind manipulation." He sighed, pressing her a little closer, and Jane rubbed his shoulder soothingly.

"Dirk..." she started, not really sure what to say but wanting to assure him that it didn't matter, it was over, but she never ever wanted him to do that again because it had been awful and she couldn't stand the thought of losing him. Of _course _he'd been trying to protect her, even if it hurt her in the process. That was something she should have expected. How to communicate all this to him? "I love you," she said, and hoped that was good enough.

"I love you too," he mumbled shakily into her hair. Was he crying? Jane looked up quickly. There was a faint glimmer of tears in his eyes in the low light, and even as she looked at him one of those teardrops fell and rolled down his cheek. She reached up and gently thumbed it away, shaking her head.

"Shh, don't cry," she murmured, feeling helpless to make anything better. She was a healer of the body, but the mind was another matter. How could she help him stop blaming himself for this whole mess? Because he was, she knew he was, and there was nothing she could say that would make him stop wondering which strings he could have pulled differently so that they wouldn't be here, so that _she _wouldn't be here, so that Roxy wouldn't be here. "We'll... we'll figure something out. You, me, and Roxy, we'll all get home safe, okay?"

"He doesn't have Roxy," Dirk shook his head furiously. "He doesn't."

Jane felt a surge of hope suddenly, more than she'd been feeling for weeks. "He doesn't?"

"He had no proof," he said, removing one arm from around her to wipe his eyes. "He doesn't have her. He can't."

That surge of hope started to dissipate quickly. "Dirk..." Just because Scratch hadn't shown them proof of his capture of Roxy didn't mean it hadn't happened. She didn't want to trust the creep, but in this case wasn't it better to assume the worst? So long as Roxy wasn't used against them at least... to her, it seemed that Dirk was just trying his best to keep himself afloat in a sea of despair and this was his way, but she didn't want it to be something that would hurt him more in time.

"He _can't_," Dirk repeated, something that sounded suspiciously like a sob in his voice, and Jane pushed all thoughts of what mind games might be in store if Roxy was here too away and hugged him tightly again, reaching up to stroke his hair.

She still had no idea what to do, how to comfort him, what to think of anything that was happening anymore. "I love you," she said again, and hoped that it would be enough.

* * *

_AN: Guys guys guys! With this chapter this story broke 100k words! I'm so excited! :D You know what this means? I'm opening fic requests again! I know I've still got two from last time waiting (plus a drabble from Pony on tumblr), all of which are in the works, but I just want to celebrate! So I guess that this means everyone who reviews this chapter between now and next chapter OR between now and next Wednesday, whichever comes later (in case I actually update fast, lol) gets a fic request! :D :D :D_

_Also, I _looooved _Snowy's suggestion of calling this Magestuck, so Magestuck it is! ;D _

_...also, no one suggested songs, so I'm going to tell you one that's on my writing playlist right now. Is it bad that I've got "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons on there?_

_Pony - ...yeahhh. I was tempted to make a joke out of that but none of them really seemed like they were going to if they were going to remain in character at that point. :P What had you mad? Everything alright?_

_Snowy - I already said this, but in case anyone else reads review responses, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. I am looking forward to this. (evil authorial cackling in the distance I mean wait what) Yeah, the beta kids seem to do that! But they're used to always having a plan. Even though they're probably going to take it easy until Jade's more recovered, they're still looking forward. No, fangirl away, it makes me happy! :D Fruit helps in general. It has simple sugars but not sucrose; glucose is easily broken down to give your body a boost in energy so at least you can stay awake. Bananas are just easy examples, I guess. Thanks a ton for Magestuck, by the way! _

_LordParmesanut - I don't even know what I did with your name there but I am pleased with myself. B) I'm excited to write their meetings! Gah. And all the rest of what's coming, too. Man, I've been excited for this part of the story for a while! Who needs all those boring rallies, anyway._

_Smartbrainmonkey - Hehe oops, forgot the dessert last time. Thanks though! I'm glad you like it! :)_

_I am not forgetting dessert now. This chapter's dessert is cookies, because I want cookies right now._

_Also! Shoutout and promo to MLP Mike and his story "John: Try To Understand"! You guys should all go read it. :D_


	27. Chapter 27: Jade - Wanderers III

A few days passed. After about a week, Jade found that while she was still super-fatigued and tired very easily, to the point of fainting sometimes if she wasn't careful—she'd figured that one out through experience, and oh man had John freaked out—all the same, she was feeling a lot better as a whole. Now at least she could stay awake for more than a few hours at a time, and she could walk around and help out around the camp again, though everyone was hovering and making sure that she didn't overwork herself. She still felt a little bad about not doing a shift on watch through the night, but all four of them agreed that it was not a good idea when she was this exhausted, both for their safety and her health.

Last night, John had tentatively proposed that they just move back to the Imperial City, at least for a little while. They weren't fugitives anymore, unless anyone found out that they had magic—which they could take care to avoid showing—and all four of them missed the lives they used to lead in the city that had. Today, they were packing up their camp and moving it closer to the city itself, and then they were going to go into the walls and look around to see if they could find a good place to stay.

Jade blew out a breath as she finished folding the extra cloaks that they'd been using as blankets, remaining sitting cross-legged on the ground for a few moments. She tucked a few rebellious strands of her dark, curly hair behind her ears, still not quite used to the lightness of her head without the lack of the huge cascade of thick locks that had hung down to her hips in the past. Right now, her cropped hair had grown to a little longer than past her chin, hovering right above her shoulders or so. It was very unruly and very curly, but at least it was almost long enough that she would soon be able to tie it back. Until then, she would have to keep pushing it behind her ears every few seconds. Ah, the woes of thick hair!

Leaning over one arm to reach for the packs, Jade stuffed the rolls of cloaks into the packs as best as she could, only momentarily toying with the idea of shrinking the heavier items in the bags like waterskins and food before she discarded it. Carrying the packs as they were right now wouldn't be as annoying or heavy as carrying _her _would, if she fainted.

"I'm done with these ones!" she announced cheerfully as she carefully stood, holding one pack in each hand, and walked into the center of the clearing. The packs were dumped into the pile of stuff to be carried that was sitting there and waiting to be sorted through more carefully; Jade plopped down next to them and began that sorting process. John was over by the fire, cooking up a hearty breakfast before their day's march, and Dave and Rose were packing up the tent.

"Thanks a ton, Jade!" her brother called over the crackling of the flames as he flipped the bread that he was toasting over the embers.

"No problem!" she replied, stuffing some rope into a slightly-less-overstuffed compartment on one of the packs. As per John, Dave, and Rose's orders, one of the bags was to remain much lighter so that she didn't get tired out too fast. Jade's protest had only been token; as much as she didn't want to admit it, it was true that she wasn't up to full strength yet. And again, it would be easier for them to carry a little extra weight in each pack than it would be for them to carry her comatose body. So she had to conserve her strength. And... let's see, there was room for this book in here if she could just... ram it... in there—good! It fit! She sat back and blew out a breath, taking a moment to rest from shoving the stupid book into the extremely overstuffed bag, which had required way more energy than it should have because she'd had to heave and push with all of her weight to get it to stay without falling and allow her to close the clasp and buckle it shut.

Packing was _way_ too hard when you had no energy, she thought ruefully before ambling over to John by the fire and dropping into a seated position next to him.

"Hi," he greeted, taking the bread with a pair of tongs and putting it on a plate next to him. "Want some toast?"

"I do," she said gratefully, accepting the plate when he handed it over. "Do you have jam?"

"I have something even better," he grinned proudly. "Rose and I went shopping, remember? I'm going to make us all some omelets!"

Jade stopped in the middle of eating one of the hot pieces of toast almost comically, frozen with her hand halfway to her mouth. "Really?"

It had been so looong since she'd had _real_ food, like omelets or cheese or anything that wasn't easily packed and lasted at least several days without being chilled. Eggs, milk, cheeses, and anything dairy pretty much was usually not on their menu, reserved instead for special occasions. To Jade, arriving in this new universe plus getting ready to move out into a new phase in their lives, plus omelets now? This felt like a celebration, and she could feel a bright smile settling into place on her face as John nodded.

"Yes, really! And since those two dorks are still over there fiddling with the tent, I'll make yours first. Lots of cheese, a dash of pepper, and coriander, right?" he asked, placing the pan in front of him and grabbing a mixing bowl and whisk.

"Yup! You got it!" she cheered, clapping her hands enthusiastically.

"I mean, it's not like I made you omelets all the time in the past or anything," John snorted, casting an amused glance over his glasses at her before he got busy beating the eggs.

Jade paused. They didn't always talk about Nanna and Grampa; it was like a wound that never quite fully healed, though at least the two of them were more healed than Dave or Rose. Of the four of them, she could easily say that Dave had taken his brother's death worst, becoming moody and depressed for a long time afterwards and refusing to open up to anyone for almost a year, when she and Rose had come back from a provision-gathering excursion and found him sobbing brokenly and feebly ignoring John's attempts to soothe him. That had been the last night that they'd put up with him bottling up all his emotions. But all the same, it still hurt sometimes to think about the past, about all they had lost.

Thinking about Nanna and Grampa made the warmth of the fire in front of her less comforting and more malevolent, and she shifted closer to John so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. She missed them both desperately, that much was for certain, but at the same time, she had stopped dwelling on their deaths. Perhaps what John was trying to do was just... focus on their _lives_, instead. That was a good philosophy. She should do that, too. After all, it would be like killing them all over again if she just ignored everything she remembered of them, wouldn't it?

So she smiled at her brother and teased lightly, "Funny, I seem to recall that it was mostly Nanna making the omelets while you made a general mess of everything."

"At least I tried!" he defended, grinning. "You just sat there and watched."

"I helped her with most things other than omelets," Jade laughingly admitted. "I admit! I was never good at making them like you are."

John nodded, waving his whisk at her for a second before he returned to beating the eggs. "That's right, yup. Hey, would you hand me the frying pan?"

She passed it over and watched him as he set it on the rack that lay nestled amid the flames and added a drop of oil before pouring the egg mixture into the pan with a great sizzling _hiss._ "But at least I remember how to make cakes!"

"Ugh, but cakes are too sweet," he complained like he always did at the thought of cakes. "You guys always made _way _too many!"

"Hey, they got eaten without a problem," she laughed, playfully poking his side. "You were the only one who avoided them! Grampa loved my cakes," she added with a wistful sigh. John set the whisk in the now-empty mixing bowl and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, he did," he agreed as both of them stared into the strangely hypnotic flames that danced around the sizzling eggs. "I remember that, all right."

They sat together for a few moments, watching the fire as it flickered and licked around the wood, John directing a gentle breeze to waft the smoke away from them. After a couple of heartbeats in silence, he gave her another gentle squeeze and shifted away to flip the omelet in the pan, dispelling the quiet moment of reflection. Jade pulled herself out of her memories and smiled at him.

Just then, Dave and Rose seemed to have finished struggling with the tent, as they approached and also sat down around the fire. "Sup," Dave greeted. "Is that food I smell?"

"Yeah, but not for you," John grinned at him for a second before he prodded the omelet with his fork to make sure it was cooked before he used a thick cloth to grab the long-handled pan and dump the egg onto Jade's plate.

"Oh, come on, bro," Dave complained. "Is mine next, at least? I am so goddamn hungry you wouldn't believe. That fucking tent put up a struggle, let me tell you. It was like trying to subdue a greased pig, but instead of a pig it was an angry rhinoceros that wanted nothing more than to run free in the wind like—"

"Okay, okay, I get it, you're hungry," John interrupted, shaking his head. "Jeez, you and your ridiculous metaphors!"

"They are not ridiculous. They are too damn cool for you," Dave grinned back.

"Just for that, I'm making Rose's next," John sniffed, playfully turning his nose up at Dave. "What do you want in your omelet, Rose?"

"Are you fucking kidding me," Dave complained as Rose said over him, "Green chili, onions, and a little bit of cheese, please," with a primly amused look in his direction.

"No, I am not kidding you," John replied as he began to beat the eggs again. "Jade, could you pass me the onions? They're in the bowl next to you—ah, thanks."

"You're welcome," Jade grinned before she stuffed a bite of hot egg and toast into her mouth, her face lighting up. As soon as she swallowed, she beamed at her brother, clapping her hands once excitedly. "Oh my gosh John this is soooo good!"

"You guys all fucking _suck_," Dave grouched.

"Thanks!" John replied, cheerfully ignoring him. "I know just how you like your omelets, remember?"

"Aww, Dave," Jade laughed. Scooting over next to him, she held a piece of bread and omelet to his lips, giggling. "Happy now, mister hungry cool dude?"

"Somewhat," he replied after swallowing. "Still hungry, though."

"Oh, be patient," Rose laughed. "Ladies first, after all, oh chivalrous one."

Dave scowled at her and stole another piece of toast from Jade's plate.

* * *

The walk to the Imperial City was honestly kind of draining, Jade found, but she didn't feel so fatigued that she wanted to call a halt, so she stayed quiet. But they arrived at the spot John and Rose had chosen to be their new campsite around early afternoon, much to her relief, and sat down, unloaded the essentials, and had a quick lunch before they continued into the actual city itself.

"Are you tired?" Rose asked her as they walked down the street into the older part of the Upper District, noticing that the spring in her step from the morning had long vanished to be replaced by something that was closer to a weary trudge.

"Just a bit," Jade offered her a wan smile. "It's okay though! I'll be fine."

Rose nonetheless took her hand and walked with her, and Jade smiled more sincerely.

"So, where are we going?" Dave asked. "You said something about the main square, which is right there... holy shit, this place is crowded, what the hell is going—" he cut himself off when someone pushing through the crowd accidentally rammed straight into Jade, who yelped and would have fallen if Rose hadn't caught her. "Hey! Watch where you're fucking going!" Dave yelled after whoever that had been.

"Shush," Jade waved a hand at him from where she stood with Rose's arm securely around her waist. "I'm fine! But we shouldn't call attention to ourselves."

"Yeah, okay, whatever. But seriously. What the everlasting _fuck _is going on here?"

"You don't know?" someone near them who happened to have overheard asked. "Where have _you _been all this time?"

"We're new in town," John quickly said, having to almost shout to be heard over all the noise of the people gathered. "Just travelers, and we happened to walk in on...whatever this is. Could you explain what's up?" He added his most winsome smile for good measure, and the young woman, charmed, nodded with a little grin. Jade rolled her eyes, amused.

"I see. Well, this is a solidarity march! We're angry and we're showing our support for the people who were killed and who went missing a month ago today when they tried to have a march for our rights!" the stranger explained. "There were two of them, the Masked Maiden and the Shaded Prince. And now someone who calls himself—or herself!—the Rogue is going around and reminding us of their message, so here we are today!" She paused to look at them more suspiciously. "You... don't support the Empress, do you?"

"Nope, not one bit," John shook his head. "You guys are trying to bring her down? That's awesome."

"Yes!" the woman said. "You should join us!"

Dave let out a low whistle. "Well, I guess we found what we were looking for," he said in a low enough voice that only the three of them could hear, while John thanked the other woman and assured her that if they stayed in town long enough, they probably would.

"Not quite," Rose corrected. "We still have to find them. I suppose we should look for this Rogue fellow. Whoever they are, they seem to be our best lead, if the Prince and Maiden are missing."

"But wait... How do we know the Rogue will want to work with us?" Jade frowned, hoping that the stumble due to the sudden weariness that came over her would just be attributed to being buffetted about in such a huge throng of people. "They don't know a thing about who we are. If I were them, I wouldn't trust us!"

"It's true," Rose sighed. "But we shouldn't discuss this here. Somewhere a little more private, perhaps?"

Dave held her hand as Rose led the way away from the central square. All four of them knew this city fairly well; they had grown up here, albeit not _here_-here, and all four of them knew that if they went to a smaller market square—not somewhere totally secluded, because if they were going for total seclusion they could leave the city but they weren't quite ready to do that—they could talk relatively freely without having to shout over a loud protest. This particular one was a bit deeper into the newer parts of the upper district, fairly close to the Imperial University of Skaia and close to a little park.

"So," Rose began again as the four of them meandered through the square, absently looking at the wares on display and seemingly paying little heed to the people milling about around them. "I think I will try to find what I can about this Rogue tonight, and we will have to go from there, honestly. But if I do not find as much as I hope, we might have to come back here and see if we can trace their steps."

"I can always tail whoever wrote the original shit on the wall," Dave suggested in a low voice. "If it comes to that, anyway."

"I hope it won't," Jade frowned. "That seems risky."

Dave didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow skeptically in an expression that said as clear as day, _So says the girl who ripped a hole in the fucking universe_. She laughed sheepishly and linked her fingers through his.

"I just want you to be careful, jeez!"

"Yeah. Me too. I do want you to be careful," he said sardonically, though whatever sting his words held was mitigated by the tightening of his hand on hers. "Funny, seems like there's something distinctly hypocritical going on here..."

"Oh, shush, Dave!" she laughed again, nudging him lightly.

He grinned and said nothing more, and the four of them kept walking.

"I don't know," John started thoughtfully, "about what Jade was saying earlier. How will they know to trust us?"

"And can _we _trust _them_?" Dave added. "I don't think we should put every last goddamn hope into this idea. For all we know it'll be another fucking failure and we'll be on the run again."

His words hung heavily between them, seeming to ignite a thought that no one had really even considered until then. "Are you saying we... we should just start over and forget about everything she did?" John asked tentatively, as if he was contemplating the notion.

Before Dave could reply, before John had even finished speaking, Jade shook her head vehemently, pulling her hand from Dave's to wrap her arms around herself defensively. "I—I can't," she said. "Maybe you guys can, but I can't."

Dave slid an arm around her waist and pulled her in close. "No, I didn't mean it like that," he said. "I just want us to be a bit more fucking careful this time around. No more stupid goddamn mistakes that land us in a ridiculously shitty situation with nowhere to go."

"Oh," she said, and leaned her head against his shoulder for a second before they started moving through the square again. "That's... that's a good idea."

"Perhaps we should wait a few days more, and get a better feel for this city before we make any permanent decisions," Rose suggested, looking over her shoulder at Jade for a second before she turned back around. "Does that sound agreeable to you? We bide our time and do our research, and then we can talk about it more. Though I, for one, do support the idea of supporting these revolutionaries if we can. It is closer than we got to doing anything like this in our old home."

"I agree," John put in. "With both taking some time and also joining in. We shouldn't rush headlong into things, but we do have experience and also some useful information, maybe, that they could use. We could definitely help this Rogue!"

"Not to completely divert us from our important discussions," Jade interrupted, "but I'm kind of hungry. Can we grab some snacks and sit down by the fountain or something?"

"Are you okay?" John asked, a hint of worry coloring his voice.

"I'm hungry and pretty tired," Jade admitted. "Sitting down would be nice." She was starting to feel a little dizzy, truth be told, but hopefully the food would help with that.

"You both go sit, then," her brother decided. "Rose and I will get us dinner and meet you over at the fountain."

"Okay," Jade agreed readily. Sitting down sounded _heavenly_, actually. Trusting Dave to keep her walking in a straight line, she leaned against his shoulder again for a moment before doing her best to head for the fountain, where they both sat on the low, broad stone brim. Jade snuggled against his side and closed her eyes, listening to the white noise of the hubbub of the people filling the square and the bubbling water behind her. It was very peaceful, she thought drowsily.

"Hey, Jade," Dave's voice interrupted gently. "Harley, wake up, food's here."

"M'not asleep," she sighed and opened her eyes, blinking a little. The sun had set a bit further than she thought it would have, and John and Rose were walking toward them holding two little bags of delicious dinner. "Or maybe I was..."

"You were," Dave assured with a little half-smirk.

Their meal was nice and leisurely, especially for four people who were refugees from another universe and seriously were considering joining an illegal revolution to overthrow a planetary empire. They didn't talk much about the latter half of these plans, just coming up with light chatter as might befit a group of friends at dinnertime, like whether Dave made a good pillow or not.

"Well, you wouldn't keep falling asleep on me otherwise," he asserted, and Jade inclined her head in his direction.

"True," she acquiesced. "But you are pretty bony, mister!"

"Are you going to tell me that John is a better pillow than me," he deadpanned. "Because have you _seen _your brother?"

Jade laughed. "Actually, I was going to say _Rose _is more cuddly than either of you."

"Should... should I be mildly offended, or what?" John asked bemusedly. Rose laughed beside him and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"I think this falls into the 'or what' category," she told him with a grin.

Dave suddenly frowned, looking over Rose's shoulder. This wasn't the first time he had since they all sat down, and he leaned forward slightly as she asked, "Okay, what are you looking at?"

"Don't turn around yet, but there's a girl behind you who keeps staring at you. And, uh... don't freak out when you do turn around."

Mystified, Jade peered over Rose's shoulder in an attempt to follow Dave's line of sight and froze, letting out a squeak of surprise. The girl standing there seemed to realize that her cover—which really wasn't that good, she was just standing there even though no one else seemed to notice her—was blown. She hesitated for a moment and then began to hesitantly walk towards them, trepidation apparent in every line of her body.

"What do you mean, don't freak out?" Rose frowned, swiveling her body until she was facing that way as well.

"Oh, my god," John breathed, staring at the girl who was approaching. Rose seemed to be frozen in shock, as was the other girl. Finally, the silence was broken as they both hesitated, and then met each other's gaze.

Lavender eyes met light pink ones as two voices asked as one, "_Mom_?"

* * *

_AN: DUN DUN DUN! Does this count as a cliffhanger? I don't know. Probably. Does this make me a bad person? Also probably, but oh well, I don't care! xD Look how nicely everything is starting to fall into place. _

_Due to there being more than five reviews, I'm replying to them via PM this time (sorry, Snowy :P) but wow, over five reviews! How exciting! :D _

_Speaking of reviews, my giveaway is still going on. Until Wednesday, actually. So yeah! Mike, Snowy, LordParmesanut, Pony, Rouge, and Smartbrainmonkey, thank you all for reviewing, and you all get fic requests! I already have the one from Smartbrainmonkey, but if the rest of you would like to redeem those, either PM me or drop it in a review. c: _

_Also, fun fact: The song "Once You Had Gold" by Enya actually inspired a good deal of Magestuck, including the title of this story. Go listen to it!_

_And huuuuge thank you to MLP Mike for making me a cover image! I love it :D_

_Today's virtual confection is crêpes, yum. _


	28. Chapter 28: Jane - Heart

_Warning for violence._

* * *

Jane sighed as she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, leaning on one arm and rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the other. Right next to her on the small cot, Dirk was still asleep, his arm still draped over her hips.

It had been a few days or so by her estimation since they were both allowed to see each other, and it had done wonders for her mental state. No longer did she start to sob at random intervals, overcome by uncertainty and fear and despair, and no longer did she feel as terribly claustrophobic. This wasn't to say that the uncertainty and fear and despair and claustrophobia had all gone away—how she wished they would!—but at least having Dirk with her helped tremendously. A hand to hold made facing the darkness a lot more bearable.

She was still terrified for them both, though, there was no doubt about that. There could be no telling what the future held, and they both honestly didn't know what they were going to do, what they had to say, anything. It pretty much went without saying that they were going to pretend Jake had nothing to do with anything; he'd been crowdwatching at the march, so it was likely that he could have just slipped in among them when everything went wrong. She'd caught a glimpse of him helping the wounded and directing people to safer routes that day, when she was standing atop a platform looking for Dirk, but past that she was pretty sure he was safe. And she was going to keep it that way.

Jane looked down, gaze softening as she beheld her sleeping companion, her legs still pressed to his under the thin blanket they had been given to stave off the cold of the dungeons. He looked much more like himself in sleep, his face more peaceful and the stress and tears rendered invisible. She tenderly brushed some errant hairs from his closed eyes, tracing his cheek with her fingers, and studied him, from the faint freckles that dotted across his nose to the messy mop of hair atop his head to the way his pale eyelashes fluttered slightly as he dreamed.

The memory of the day after she'd completely drained herself saving Jake and woken up held snugly in his arms drifted back, and Jane found herself wiping away sudden tears that sprang to her eyes. Oh, god, she just really wanted to get out of here, to go home, home where she wasn't afraid and where she was comfortable to speak and where she didn't have to worry about her friends like this... Something akin to a feeling somewhere between affection and desperation rose in her, something like the combination of the knowledge of how much she loved Dirk and the growing realisation that she could lose him any day now, and sniffling slightly, she settled back into the cot and pulled the blanket back over her shoulders, burying her face in his chest. He stirred, but didn't wake, and after a moment frozen in pondering whether he would wake up and see her tears, she hugged him close and lay silently for a while, just listening to his heartbeat.

"You mean so much to me," she whispered, knowing that he couldn't hear her, but just wanting to say the words. "I love you."

An hour or so later, he finally did wake up. Jane wondered how much—or rather, how little—he'd been sleeping for the past nights. Dirk usually didn't sleep in that much. Well, either that, or she usually didn't wake up at three in the morning or something, because despite the ridiculous amount of clocks in the palace part of this place, the dungeon had a frustrating lack thereof. There was no way to tell the passing of time save by estimating or by counting one's own heartbeats or something.

He stretched a bit and blinked up at the stone ceiling for a few seconds, then looked back down to her.

"Hey," she greeted softly. Dirk hugged her close in reply.

"Hey," he said. "You okay?"

"As okay as I'm going to get," she sighed, sliding her arms around him. "Did you sleep well?"

"As well as I'm going to sleep," he answered dryly in the same tone. Jane giggled slightly, almost but not quite able to muster up actual laughter.

A while later, after they both had finally gotten up and freshened themselves for the day, even though it was going to be spent sitting in a cell until they were both too sleepy to stay awake, the two of them were sitting on the cot next to each other again, arms around each others' waists.

"How long do you think we're going to be allowed to be like this?" Jane wondered quietly, resting her temple against his shoulder. Dirk leaned his cheek atop her head, his thumb stroking her back soothingly for a moment.

"I ... I don't know," he finally said. "But if that fucking green shithead thinks he can hurt you, he has another think coming."

She raised her head to look at him, slightly surprised, before snuggling into his side again. It was strange and kind of heartbreaking to see him like this, so doubtful of himself where in the past he would have come up with _some _answer, had some sort of plan. That attempt to protect her and how it had backfired so spectacularly must have hurt him more than he'd initially let on.

"Dirk..."

"No," he shook his head. "Fuck it all. I told you once that my priorities are the people I care about, and then everyone else. And I meant it. If I could save the world but lose you, I wouldn't do it. All I give a damn about now is keeping you safe, and I am going to. I swear it."

"Dirk, no, you shouldn't!" Jane exclaimed, feeling the morning's tears starting to well up again. "You can't just forget everything we've worked for just for my sake, that's what they want you to say! Because if you do that, then..." Then they could just threaten her and Dirk would tell them anything they needed to know, she didn't say. He already knew.

"I'm going to find a way to fix this," he shook his head again. "You shouldn't be here. They shouldn't—I could just..."

"Just what?" she demanded as he trailed off, sitting upright and twisting to face him more directly, linking her hands behind his neck. "Dirk, please, what are you thinking of doing? Don't leave me out of the loop like last time..."

Those words struck a chord, even though she hadn't quite meant them to be hurtful, and his head jerked up. "I'm not—fuck, no, I'm not doing anything like that, I promise. I don't have a plan. It was a stupid idea. I was thinking about ways to get out of here, but it just won't work."

Jane leaned in to hug him again. "Dirk..."

"No, never mind," he sighed. "Fuck. I'm sorry, Jane. I guess I'm just irritated at myself and worried for you, for Roxy..." his voice wobbled dangerously on the last word, and Jane squeezed him again.

"I'm sure she's alright," she murmured soothingly. "He was probably bluffing, like you said." She wasn't sure how much she believed those words—maybe she did, maybe she didn't—but it was what Dirk probably needed to hear. And for all she knew, he _was _right. She just didn't want to get her hopes up only to have them dashed.

"We just need a plan," Dirk said after a few moments, running a hand through his hair distractedly. "We need something to stick to and to think about. And we don't need to keep falling into that fucker's traps."

"Yes," Jane agreed carefully. "What are you thinking of?"

"I have a few vague, not very well formed ideas floating around in my head. However, I'm pretty sure everything we say loudly enough to be overheard is, in fact, being overheard, so we should probably be careful."

"In that case," Jane huffed, raising her voice ever so slightly, "I really think that the man holding us captive here is a real jerk!"

Dirk stared at her, one eyebrow raised and a look of genuine amusement curving his lips into a smirk. "Really, Crocker?"

"Yes, really, Strider!" she answered, poking him in the chest. It might have been juvenile—both the poke and the name-calling, but at least it got him to smile. And it amused her, too! Win-win. Plus, one never knew. Maybe being called a jerk would really irritate Doctor Scratch. It was possible.

He laughed at that and shook his head again. "You are a strange and silly girl."

"So I have been told," she replied sweetly, trying and failing to hold in a giggle. "But do tell, what might your ideas be?" she added, keeping her voice lowered.

"I... I kind of only have one viable option, and I really hate it right now," he admitted. "It majorly fucking sucks."

"Well, out with it anyway," Jane said. "We can see how awful it is after you say it." She didn't want to have to bring it up again, but there was absolutely no way she was going to let him pull something like the last time, when his spur-of-the-moment plan hadn't even worked anyway. And she didn't want to get hurt like that again. Was it selfish? Maybe. Was it something she was going to focus on anyway? Yes.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "There has to be something we can do to avoid him playing us against each other," he began. "The question is, what is it?"

"But won't he realize that we're just trying to play his mind games again if we do the something?" Jane frowned.

"It's a gamble," Dirk replied. "And I don't have any idea how to accomplish it yet. But the alternative is just sitting here and letting him use us like that. And I personally hate that idea already. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure you don't like it any more than I do." He shifted to sit more comfortably, his back against the cool stone of the wall.

"You're right on that count, as usual," she acknowledged, repositioning herself so that she could lean against his chest.

"I know," his voice replied from above as he draped his arms loosely about her. "Which means that we have to figure out what he thinks about us, and what he knows about us."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Jane asked, interrupting again. "I mean, it's a good idea, but that could potentially take months if we only talk to him every few days!"

"Why, Miss Crocker, if I didn't know better, I might think you _wanted _to speak with me," the voice she absolutely detested drawled from the other side of the cell door. Dirk's arms tightened around her in a protective embrace, the way he stiffened indicating just how surprised he was—just as startled as her, as a matter of fact. How long had he been there?!

"Well, you would be wrong," Jane answered in her most frostily polite tone, picked up and honed from hours of working in a bakery. Customers could be downright unbearable sometimes.

"Well, that's just a pity," Scratch replied, and even though he was on the other side of the small grate in the heavy iron door, she could just imagine the malicious leer that would be directed at her if they could see each other. "Because I would just _love _to talk to you, my dear."

"Don't call me that," she snapped immediately, feeling a slight shudder of revulsion go through her body. The voice on the other side of the door just laughed, and the sound of the bolt being slid back and jingling keys followed as ever. With a sinking heart, Jane looked up at Dirk, who was glaring daggers at the door. He clutched her close suddenly in a desperate embrace that lasted far too little a time, and then helplessly relinquished her as the door opened to admit the guards that they had come to recognize as the ones who would be taking them out for another session with Scratch, though if it was to be in the sitting room or the awful stone courtyard still remained to be seen.

"I _do _have the authority to do so, remember," he said lightly. "Nigh-omniscient beings do not answer to mere baker girls." Without deigning to wait for her response, he swept out of the room, and after the hated shackles were placed on both of their wrists, Dirk and Jane had no choice but to follow in the company of their guard escort. As they walked, Jane felt her heart sink even further—they were going upstairs to the ground floor, but not up another flight to the opulent sitting rooms. This meant they were headed for the courtyard instead. She dreaded this already.

Once they arrived outside, Doctor Scratch clasped his hands behind his back as they were once again led to the line of posts in the middle of the stony courtyard. "Now, today, there are just a few more things that I want to know—"

"I want to know something, too," Dirk interrupted harshly. "If you truly have Roxy, why isn't she here? Why are you only interrogating two of us?"

_Dirk, no, stop trying to play his mind games over Roxy, _Jane thought worriedly, biting her lip and looking over at him anxiously. The cuffs were chafing her wrists, and she tried to discreetly slide them up a bit without making too much noise.

"I have my reasons. Would you like me to let you see her where she rots, deep in the blackest pits? She put up a fight, at least, more than you did. If you _must _know, it is because when a prisoner is still unconscious, they aren't the most responsive to questioning."

"Still unconscious!?" Jane burst out, horrified. They must have hit her over the head far too hard! What if she was comatose indefinitely? Oh no, she had to get to her! They had to let her heal Roxy. Wait, but no, they didn't know she was a healer, she'd passed that off when they hurt Jake! Would they take her away from here if she revealed her magic? Would they give her to the Mages' College? Would it be worth it?

"Jane," Dirk said in a low voice, catching her gaze and giving her a single, terse shake of his head. "Stop."

"But—" she started, cutting herself off. "That's not healthy! It's been several days already, she should have woken up by now. Something's wrong!"

"Oh?" Scratch smirked. "Can you fix it, then?"

Jane hesitated. "No," she said, hoping her voice was steady.

"What a pity. I suppose something will have to remain wrong, in that case."

"Shut the fuck up," Dirk growled at him. "You don't have her. You're going to keep making up excuses for why you can't show us proof."

"If that is what you choose to believe, that's not my problem," Scratch said, seeming to find his own statement very amusing, because he hooted with laughter for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing. "But we shouldn't get sidetracked onto such a trivial matter as your friend's life, should we?" Apparently this too was absolutely hilarious, because he had to pause and laugh at his own joke—some joke, Jane thought angrily—before he returned to a more composed state.

"I would like you to tell me just a few more things. First of all, give me a list of every person who knows who you are under the mask—and under the shades, I suppose. You _do _have quite the strange fashion sense, Mr. Strider."

"Says the douche who looks like he fell into a vat of grass stains," Dirk replied nonchalantly. "Would you like some fashion advice? I'm not the best person to go to, though. You might want to ask Roxy—oh wait, you can't."

"I warn you now, I do not have infinite patience, nor do I have infinite time. I am a busy man, and I have many irons in the fire. Do not try my patience more than you already have." Scratch's voice lost the false congeniality, which was instead replaced by a hard edge. Jane felt herself shrinking back ever so slightly. Now that she was back out here, she was pretty sure she was terrified again, not to mention that she was still worried that they might bring out the conjurer with his hot branding iron again, or something worse. God, this place was awful, and she just wanted to go home, and gosh darnit no, she was not about to start crying here in the middle of this, that would be not only humiliating but also detrimental to their cause, because she would not—_could _not display weakness, not here, not now.

Beside her, Dirk seemed to be thinking. It was hard to tell because he had that impassive mask on again, but after years of knowing him she had learned to read it fairly well. He was turning an idea over and over in his mind, all the gears of thoughts just ticking away. But what was it? Was it the something he'd never gotten around to telling her earlier? Oh god, now she was even more scared! What was he thinking of doing?

The moment's silence was broken when Scratch once again clasped his hands behind his back and smiled with a false pretense of pleasantness. "Now. Please do tell, who knows your identities or anything about you?"

Both of them remained silent.

"Oh, very well. You really are set on making a liar out of me, aren't you? A good host does try not to have to do this. But I have tried. You seem quite intent on bringing more pain upon yourselves." Scratch gestured, and just like Jane had feared, the conjurer came forth again. "I am going to give you a choice. Either one of you talks, or both of you get burned." As he spoke, the red-hot, glowing brand appeared again. Jane heard someone whimper in fear, and only realised that it had been herself a moment later.

"There's no one else!" she burst out. "The only other one was Roxy, and you say you already have her."

"See, was that truly so hard?" Scratch smiled again, that oily smirk that Jane despised, and shook his head. "However, you'll have to forgive me for doubting your answer, my dear. It seems to be too good to be true... and most things that seem that way, I have found, actually are not true."

"It's true, I swear," she all but begged, willing to throw away her dignity if it meant the brand would go away and no one got hurt. She might even break down crying, but if it kept Jake, Dirk, Roxy, and herself safe, then humiliation in front of this awful man would be worth it, right? "There's no one else."

"Well, if you're so set on that answer, I'll just have to corroborate it with a mind reader... or would you rather I not?"

Jane stiffened. If he got a mind reader, they could find out about Jake. But trying to get out of having her mind read would indicate quite obviously that she had something to hide. Perhaps a creative lie... "I... there is one other, who helped us plan things," she started quietly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dirk freeze and stare at her disbelievingly. "But she went offworld to visit family before the march where you captured us. And I don't think she would be back yet."

"A name, Miss Crocker," Scratch said dangerously quietly. "You would be surprised at how many strings I can pull, on Skaia and elsewhere. Do not underestimate the grand puppetmaster."

"I..." Oh no, what name to give? If she made one up off the top of her head, he might easily find out that the troll girl didn't exist, but she didn't know any trolls who would be visiting family right now! She barely knew any trolls at all!

Apparently her moment of hesitation was a moment too long, because Scratch dismissively waved a hand in her direction. "Brand her," he said boredly.

"_No!_" Dirk yelled, lunging ineffectively forward in an attempt to get to her.

"I gave you a choice. Either a, you talk freely, or b, you get hurt. Apparently Miss Crocker has chosen option B." Scratch shrugged. "Would you like to take her punishment for her, is that what you're trying to say?"

"I choose option C," Dirk gritted his teeth, closing his eyes in concentration for a second.

What happened next shocked Jane to her core. It was a memory that was undoubtedly going to be with her for the rest of her life.

Bolts of fuchsia lightning shot into the air, emanating from Dirk. They tore through the chains on his hands and tinted the very air tyrian, leaving a smell of ozone in their wake. A few of the guards cried out, some readying swords as others shielded their eyes from the bright streaks that shot through the courtyard, sizzling and snapping as they went, and most of them focused on Doctor Scratch. Something horrific seemed to be happening to him; it was as if the very soul was being ripped from his body and an awful, pain-filled scream was being ripped from his throat. Jane screamed too, in fright and shock, trying to shield her eyes and ears but her hands were still bound behind her, and she ended up sinking to her knees with her eyes squeezed shut and tears falling freely as people screamed all around her.

And then guards started to converge on Dirk, trying their best not to get ino the way of the purplish, bright lightning. Jane screamed again because there was _no way _he could fight them all off, what had he been _thinking _with an escape attempt—or was this just an attempt to kill Scratch? She had no clue—but he was going to get hurt now, they were going to defeat him and—

The lightning converged on one of the guards, ripping into him like a ferocious predator into prey. There was a short, eternity-long second in which he _screamed_, a scream the likes of which Jane had never heard in her life, and then he dropped like a stone. Everyone stared for a moment, stunned, but after he recovered from his shock, Dirk used that interval to snatch up the fallen guard's sword. One of his hands was still shooting out streaks of fuchsia terror that was hissing and sizzling angrily, but the other was somehow channeling it along the sword, and as he clashed blades with a guard, the bolts fired along the metal down onto the other man and he, too let out a yowl and collapsed.

Jane screamed again, horrified. "_Dirk! Stop!_" she begged, hoping he could hear her over all the cries of alarm and the zapping of his own magic, because that was surely magic, destructive, murderous magic coming from the hands of her Dirk who had held her with those same hands this very morning.

He stopped, but not voluntarily. A well-placed lash from a short whip caught his leg, and he stumbled, providing all the opening the guards needed. With a cry, Dirk fell to his knees, and then to the ground, as all the lightning vanished, and Jane shrieked in horror as the guard raised the whip again, and again, and again, and the other one who remained standing kicked him, again and again and again, and she couldn't watch, she couldn't she couldn't she couldn't—

Another group of guards came rushing into the courtyard. Scratch was picking himself up from the floor, and he said some words that Jane couldn't hear over her own gasping sobs of horror and the next thing she knew, they were taking her back inside and down into the dungeons, and the last thing she saw before the door to the courtyard closed was Dirk lying bloody, bruised and broken on the ground.

* * *

_AN: Ohhh man. I have a feeling you guys are going to kill me for this one. _

_I've always thought that being the Destroyer of Souls is a terrifying power to have, though. Dirk finally figured out how to destroy souls, and it's not pretty. God, this whole chapter is not pretty._

_Snowy - Yes, I loooove the cover art! *more promoing for MLP Mike goes here because he's awesome and made it for me* It's one of those conversations that's just ... yup, Homestuck. I'm excited to write it haha! Coming up soon, I promise. :P Dave is such a good pillow, really. And, uh, on the note of cliffhangers... ;/_

_Raven - Here is more! And yes, I am just that evil :P I am a fic author, what did you expect?_

_Pony - Over five reviews! Whoop whoop! This one was just at five, so I'm putting them here xD and yes. Dave and his omelets. I had fun with that scene, it was funny and cute. This story probably could do with a good dose of funny and cute once in a while..._

_Divis5 - Hehe yup! They're finally meeting! And, um, funny you should mention cliffhangers..._

_LordPeanut - She's not out of the woods yet, as we're going to see, but mostly she's okay c: And yes, that's Roxy, stirring up trouble xD I mean, she is known as the Rogue in canon, so I just ... borrowed that. Same way Dirk's the Shaded PRINCE and Jane the Masked MAID(en). :P Crêpes are so awesome. I can't wait to have some in a month._

_Thank you all for reviewing c: and thanks to all my readers, too!_


	29. Chapter 29: Roxy - We Meet (Again?)

About two hours before the dawn arrived, Roxy groggily roused herself by way of the insistent shrilling of the alarm she'd set on her communicator the last night, sighing loudly to the empty, still room and staring at the ceiling. Staying here didn't feel like home as much as she'd thought it would. No, it was too big and too empty. The hideout was actually a large network of rooms that over a few years they'd refitted for their own means, mostly by Roxy conjuring pieces of furniture that Jake had eagerly put together, bits of gadgetry that Dirk had fiddled with for weeks, and of course all the fancy kitchen equipment and some pranking apparatuses at Jane's insistence. The other girl had also been the one to point out pragmatic concerns, like perhaps putting beds in a few of the back rooms in case they ever decided to stay the night—though at the time, she'd thought that if they did that, it would be for fun and games, not because they were being hunted down—and stocking sheets, blankets, and toiletries, among other things, in the storage closets. These things were a bit dusty and untouched, unused enough to feel impersonal, but they were useful and they served the purpose that Roxy needed, so she made it work.

That didn't change the fact that it was just really, really lonely in here, she mused, looking around at the drab four walls. She kind of wanted to decorate, but they had only furnished two bedrooms, one for the boys and one for the girls, and it kind of felt like it would be rude if she decorated without Jane here. And if she just decorated her half, well, it would be even more of a slap in the face to remind her that Jane was, in fact, not here.

The question that she was now debating, other than whether it would count as decorating if she repainted this whole drab place, was the importance of whether she put on a show of still being a good student at university. Most students were out for a few more weeks of vacation before the fall classes started, if they weren't taking summer courses. Her closest friends there were among those who were away, and surely no one else would really notice if she took a leave of absence, right? She could always just say she'd gone traveling, and leave it at that.

The only thing that left for her to take care of, then, was her apartment, which was presumably quite ransacked. That was something she should go ahead and do while she was still under cover of darkness, so that it would be less obvious. But as much as it pained her to admit, most of her things would have to be left behind. The cover story that she'd decided on, with a little aid from AR, was that while she was out of town, someone must have just broken in and stolen most of her valuables, which she actually was going to steal herself. Everything else, like the furniture, would have to stay. But at least she might take a few comforts, like her knitted sweaters and scarf and some of her favorite items. And maybe she could conjure some of the others. The block of green genericness that she'd conjured in her panic would have to go, though. It was a sure mark of a mage's presence, and after the scare with Jane, that wasn't anything she wanted a part of.

Man, the boys had it easy, not having magic and all. Although... Roxy had suspicions that they had some of the more subtle kinds, the ones that were a little more common but always harder to find. At least, over the past few weeks, she'd begun to notice more now that she was looking for it, but Jake seemed to have a way of always inspiring trust and uplifting people even when it made no sense for them to feel uplifted, like the night of the march when she'd broken down sobbing in his living room and he'd soothed her with a simple "It's not your fault", and that had been that. If anyone else had said that to her, there would have been no way she would have accepted it and trusted that those words were true.

She sighed and pushed herself out of the bed finally, abandoning the warmth of the covers for the cool floor. _Note to self: obtain a rug at the first opportunity. This shit is way too cold to walk on first thing in the morning!_

Shuffling to the bathroom, she readied herself for the day with remarkable lack of enthusiasm, wondering _why _exactly she'd ever thought waking up this early was a good idea before she grumbled her way to the kitchen, where a hastily slapped together chocolate-spread sandwich served as a kind of disappointing breakfast.

So, what were her plans for today? One: go clean out the apartment and get everything that she wanted to bring back here. Two: check out the purported support march going on today, but don't participate. Three: figure out the next move of the Rogue.

God... she was being like the Masked Maiden and Shaded Prince now, wasn't she? But more enigmatic and mysterious. Rogues worked in the shadows. Maidens and Princes seemed to enjoy the limelight more. Either way, she had to figure out her plan. Oh, and four: catch up with Jake. That poor kid was pretty dang out of the loop now, wasn't he? It had been over a week since they'd last talked, because he'd had to work overtime last weekend thanks to that damn slavedriver of a supervisor he worked for.

Recently, the Batterwitch had released a statement saying that she was not responsible for the deaths on the day of the march, which was now often referred to as the Grand Square Massacre, citing the systematic slaughter of her own troops as well. She had not, Roxy noted, indicated anything about who _had _been responsible, or for that matter anything other than that she was innocent but the situation was "under control".

Riiiight. Roxy was willing to bet the scarf her mother had knitted for her long ago that that was absolute, utter bullshit.

This, of course, meant one of several things. It was possible that the Batterwitch actually didn't know of the operations of Lord English. However, Roxy was willing to discard this notion—surely in her collection of mages and their forced labor, she had a few seers! There was pretty much no way that she didn't know. But the fact that her wording seemed to ask for pity, to say _oh no, look, I'm no less hurt than you_ was interesting. It implied, at least to Roxy's analytical mind, that she was trying to gain the support of the citizens, however subconsciously and slowly it might be.

And _that _seemed a hell of a lot more likely.

But that too had some kind of scary ramifications, one of which was the thought that... if they had the _Batterwitch_ of all people on the defensive, just what kind of people were these running Lord English, anyway? Who was it that held Dirk and Jane, and even more broadly than that, who was trying to... trying to what? Oust the Batterwitch and take over Skaia? It was certainly possible, and this wasn't the first instance of someone trying to overthrow the Witch. Other empires than the Skaian one existed; a few star systems over, Roxy knew there was the rapidly-expanding Feltian-controlled sector, locked deeply in combat with the smaller but vicious Midnight Empire. Perhaps Lord English's group was related to one of these?

Either way, she wasn't sure that she liked the fact that the Batterwitch was trying to gather her citizens' support. She _knew _how much everyone hated her. If she was trying to gain their sympathies again and invoke Skaian nationalism, it meant that she was on the back foot and still being pressed. Whatever it was that was pressing her wasn't obvious—god damn it, this was one of the days when Roxy really wished she was a seer or something, it would make being a revolutionary so much easier if she could see the entirety of the chessboard rather than just one corner of it!

Thoughts like this were what made being a political science student just so damned fun, she grumped as she crossed through the dark streets, avoiding the bright, bright lamplights as best as she could, melting from shadow to shadow. Being invisible all the time was kind of tiring and required conscious focus on it, while just being unnoticed, she'd found, was a lot easier. _It really does explain my luck getting a boyfriend,_ she snorted. _Fuck, I sound all cynical like Janey._

Nope, fuck everything, it was about four in the morning and all reasonable people were still asleep unless they'd stayed up. No one in their right mind got up this early. She had every right to go cynical at the world.

Four. In the goddamn. Morning.

And of course, her damn apartment just _had _to be on eighth floor. Taking an elevator might draw attention, too, because _no one is supposed to be awake to take the fucking elevator at four in the fucking morning_, so she had to climb all the stairs.

_Fuck you, and you, and you_, she told each one as she huffed and grumbled and complained her way up, albeit as silently as she could.

Her apartment door was, as she suspected, broken, but so was the block of greenness and the chair she'd jammed in the way. Well, she could just... hey, if she could conjure stuff, could she _unconjure_ it too? Did it work like that?

A few attempts at unconjuring the green stuff were unsuccessful, and she honestly was too tired to keep going at it. Instead, a moment's focus allowed her to create a bag, a simple fabric bag with a strap for her shoulder, that she then proceeded to dump everything she wanted into.

Dress she'd worn to the dance with Dirk last winter, yes. Jewelry box, yes. It would look suspicious if thieves left jewelry and fancy clothes that could be worth a lot. That shirt that she'd stolen from Dirk forever ago, also yes. The seashell comb that Jane had bought her a few years ago, definitely. A portrait of the four of them laughing, of course. The scarf and blanket her mother had made for her, for certain. Also Rose's knitting needles and a copy of her books.

Roxy paused as she picked up a picture of her mother, the same picture that she'd seen earlier when she had almost gone back to drinking but hadn't. She gently traced the outline of her mother's face, blowing softly at the slight coat of dust that had gathered on the picture glass since last time she'd cleaned. In the dimness, only lit by the reflection of the streetlamps below, Rose's face was mostly in shadow, all the crisp details hidden and softtened by the dark. She looked more at peace, more... happy, really, than Roxy could recall ever having seen her in life, save a few times.

God, she missed her mother.

They had had their differences, and their fights, always the passive-aggressive arguments with the two of them, but they'd been a family and they knew it. It was like she was slowly losing everyone she loved now, all her life. First she'd lost her mother and Dave in one day, that awful day—_why did you look? Why do you always have to look?_—when they'd been executed—murdered, more like—and she could never forget it, not ever. That had been the first day Roxy had ever seen death. And then Jane's grandfather and father had died in the car accident, and she'd almost lost Jane to the grief, but for a while things had seemed alright, and she'd thought it would be okay! But... but now, she had lost Dirk and Jane, too. How long was it going to be until something happened to Jake, too?

Would she end up alone?

_Fuck, fuck fuck fuck, fuck it all, _she thought angrily, wiping tears before they could fall. _It is four in the morning and you are not going to have some kind of breakdown over your own failures and all the shit that you've dealt with while stealing your own stuff from your apartment. Get it together, Lalonde! Make Mom proud._

With a shaky breath, she skimmed her fingers over the glass again, wishing that she could just talk to her mother one more time, and then shoved the picture deep into her bag.

* * *

By the time she finished sorting through all her things and lugged her bulging bag back into the underground hideaway, the sun was rising over the Imperial City. Roxy groaned. That was one of four things on her to-do list accomplished, at least... now, she had a few hours to kill until the support demonstrations were beginning. She had to admit, she was curious. Was the Batterwitch going to crush them? If her suspicions were correct, probably not. In fact, the Witch might even officially sanction this one, in some ironic twist of fate, because she wanted to commemorate her fallen soldiers—and more importantly, remind everyone that her soldiers had fallen.

But a few hours to kill meant one important thing: naptime. Her task was finished under cover of darkness, and though she did want to organize everything to be more homey and less... a big pile of junk, she was way too sleepy. Besides, she could just sleep for a few hours or so, and then get back to work, right?

... Okay, fine, she wasn't going to sleep until the actual demonstration. But a nap for an hour sounded tantalizingly appealing, and her bed, still rumpled from when she'd groggily rolled out from the blankets earlier, was beckoning invitingly. Roxy blew out a tired sigh and trudged over, carefully placing her bag of valuables on the ground before she curled up under the covers, closing her eyes.

After a moment of lying there and enjoying the absolute bliss of her soft bed and warm blankets, she cracked her eyes open to set another alarm on her communicator, telling it to wake her in an hour and a half, and then allowed herself to fall happily into the realms of slumber.

When she awoke a while later, having snoozed right on through the alarm she'd set, she felt a lot more refreshed. It was amazing what another sleep cycle could do for one's temperament. Still kind of tired, she walked to the kitchen, pulling her hair into a short ponytail as she did, and used the coffeemaker to brew herself a nice, strong cup. As she blew on the steaming liquid—after adding heap after heap of sugar, of course—she smiled sadly, thinking of Dirk and Jane again. Were they alright? Were they still alive? She missed them so much. And even though Jake said it wasn't her fault and her tears had been assuaged for one night, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself if they actually were hurt or ... or killed.

A few gulps of scalding liquid later, she felt a lot more awake and a lot more ready to tackle the remainder of her day. A check of the clock informed her that it was about three hours until midday, and the demonstrations were scheduled to start three hours after midday. Well, she still had time, and quite a lot of it. If she gave herself an hour or so to get this place cleaned up and organized and generally more homelike than it was right now, that would also give her four hours to keep digging through that large bank of encrypted files that she'd unencrypted and stolen copies of, and then another hour to walk over to the Grand Square to see the proceedings. At some point today, since it was a weekend, she was going to pop in to see Jake, too, if he couldn't make it over here. At the very least, they could have a purely social visit, without her talking about her Rogue exploits. It had been _way_ too long since they had last gotten together!

Okay! Now, she was going to tackle that pile of random precious junk that was sitting on the floor. But first... Roxy turned around and reached over to flick on the music player, her face brightening as it began to croon some of her favorite songs into the room. This was a much better atmosphere for working, really.

An hour or so later, just like she'd predicted, everything was in order, or as close to "in order" as it was going to get. She looked around, hands on her hips, and nodded with satisfaction once before flopping onto the couch, digging out her computer. It was now time to get cracking on these files... ooh, that was a good pun. She had to remember that for future reference.

Four hours passed infuriatingly slowly. This was heavy reading and slow going, neither of which Roxy was a fan of, and even though there were things that interested her in the documents, there was still nothing pertinent on "Lord English" or any relevant dissident factions or warring groups, etc. They didn't seem to exist!

With a frustrated groan, she almost slammed her computer closed, halting the motion at the last second and instead shutting the lid gently before she placed it on the floor and hurled a pillow across the room.

"_Why _are you so fucking difficult to find?" she asked aloud. "Why?"

The room, of course, declined to answer, so she just huffed and let her head fall back against the cushions for a minute before she pushed herself to her feet. It was about time for her to head out of here anyway, if she wanted to be early enough to the demonstrations. They were supposed to be a peaceful protest of some sort.

Because, you know, those always went well.

She had to admit, though, she was pleasantly surprised. As the Rogue, she'd scrawled more paint messages, signing her alias sometimes, and just leaving a distinctive enough message others, and she'd hinted that there should be another march, but she had not actually organized this one. This had been people who replied to her paint writings with papers taped to the wall, or painted their own responses and questions for her. They were the ones in charge of this particular demonstration. The Rogue would not be putting in an appearance in the public eye. The Rogue was no one and everyone, and she only worked in the shadows. The idea was that anyone could be the Rogue, really, because perhaps if Roxy, too, vanished, some inspired person might take up the mantle and follow in her footsteps.

Well, her political science theory class certainly helped her to plan a revolution, if nothing else, she thought amusedly as she walked out of the tunnels into the streets, making her way for the Grand Square. Wouldn't her professor just be _so _proud?

Actually, it was possible, because that professor was the same one she'd convinced to let Dirk pass not only with a barely-scraping-by grade but with flying colors for boycotting the final, because she'd argued that he was putting the things they learned to practical use, unlike all the other classmates. The professor had found this hilarious and agreed. Roxy smiled to herself at the memory—Dirk himself had expected a failing grade, and when he'd received the score he was so confused. Roxy had been leaning in the doorway as he read the report card, and when he finally raised his eyes to her, she had just waved, and he'd automatically assumed she'd hacked the system to pass him instead. It had been a funny conversation, to say the least.

Jane had laughed until her sides hurt when she heard that story. The two of them had gone out for a picnic in one of the little parks that dotted the border between upper and lower districts, and Roxy had done what she figured was a stunning impression of Dirk trying to impress upon her that no matter how much he wanted to pass a course it was not right for her to break into the system to change his grades because she might get kicked out, all while he wouldn't shut up long enough for her to get a word in edgewise to say that that hadn't been what she did.

She just missed them a lot, okay?

Shaking her head, she looked around herself. The demonstration was, in fact, going well, and like she had suspected, the guards posted at the gate to the road leading up to the Imperial palace were not doing a thing against it. She did wonder what the timeframe was going to be, though. How long were they going to be out here? How long was the Empresswitch going to take before she released another statement of sentiment? She couldn't ignore the unrest in her own city long enough; even though most of her media was heavily censored and covered things up, there would be no way to hide this from the rest of the world forever. People talked from city to city, and if something rocked her power enough, her grasp on the coverage of the conflicts would slip. In a way, being a despot was a very fragile position.

Roxy joined the protestors for another two hours, staying among them until evening and shouting and chanting just as passionately. She, too, had lost friends that day, she told someone, and was rewarded with a hug, empathy forming bonds between almost everyone there, even though they didn't know each other's names. It didn't matter. They were here for their friends, for the cause, and for everything they believed in, and that was really all there was to say on the matter. Words didn't mean as much as actions.

Finally, she extricated herself, starting to feel a bit queasy because of how much it reminded her of last time, when everything had been happy. Yeah, it was time to go see Jake, probably, because he hadn't yet messaged her to say that he would be coming to meet her at her new home in the underground. If she went using the road by the university, she could also drop by the market and grab a bite to eat. Things were always a little cheaper there because of all the hungry students who came without as much money to spend, but only a little. Still, a little was better than not at all.

It was when she had just bought a sandwich from a vendor when a bright laugh caught her attention in all the hubbub of people bustling around this way and that. It came from near the fountain, and just out of curiosity she looked up, smiling slightly to see that at least someone was having a good day, to see a dark-haired girl who looked vaguely familiar, leaning against a boy whose face was turned away just a bit, looking up into the crowd as if watching for someone,. He was saying something to her, and pinned her against him, as she feebly batted at his hand and laughed again. Roxy was about to walk away, smiling at them, when he turned back to the girl, and she saw his face.

He was the spitting image of Dirk's older brother, Dave, down to the most minute of details. The only difference was that he looked years younger than when she'd last seen him, closer to her own age, but he was unmistakably Dave. Roxy froze, unable to look away, when two more figures approached, and she felt herself go weak in the knees for a second.

A dark-haired boy and a light-haired girl joined them, hand in hand and holding two bags, presumably of dinner. Feeling vaguely like she was intruding but unable to help herself, Roxy edged closer, finding it impossible to tear her gaze away from the other girl, who had the same hair and profile and style of dress and _oh god she turned her face to say something to the dark-haired girl and she looked exactly like Rose Lalonde_.

"Dave!" the dark-haired girl was saying, a smile still on her face. "I admit, I was asleep, and you are a good pillow—"

"I'm the best fucking pillow there ever was, is, or will be," Dave said, giving her a little smirk that Roxy knew from years ago when he would tease little Dirk and then try not to laugh. Oh god, what was going on here? That was Dave, that was somehow Dave, she _knew _it, and... and that girl was...

"Yes, mister coolest pillow ever, but either let me sit up properly so I can eat, or feed me," the girl giggled. Dave seemed to consider this, actually holding up a forkful of pasta for her. She seemed surprised, but went with it.

"I see you're feeling a bit better, then," Rose Lalonde observed. From a distance, it was hard to hear, but her voice sounded exactly the same, too, and Roxy couldn't help but stare, her eyes widening.

"She took a nap on me while we were waiting on you," Dave said. "Of course she's feeling better."

"Thanks for the food, Rose," the dark-haired girl said. Roxy choked just a bit, as if it was confirmation even more that somehow this was Rose, this was _her mother_, her _dead _mother, younger and alive and sitting right in front of her, how was this possible, what was going on, what was this?

"I bought you a cookie," the dark-haired boy said, handing a small paper bag to the girl. "You said some sugar might give you a pick-me-up, right?"

"Thanks John!" she smiled brightly. "That, and you know I love cookies."

"Yes, I know," he said sardonically. "All of you weirdos like cookies way too much."

"I think that makes _you _the weirdo," Rose pointed out.

They kept talking, but Roxy couldn't really listen anymore. She was too caught up in the fact that her _mother_ was sitting on the edge of the fountain that she'd eaten lunch on almost every day for the past few months, Rose Lalonde was here and alive and not dead and so was Dave Strider and _how _was this possible and oh shit Dave saw her, of _course _Dave was going to see her.

Well. Shit.

There was nothing for it now, so she took a small, tentative step forward, and another, and another. Rose turned around, probably wondering what her three companions were looking at, and Roxy froze. So did Rose.

"Mom?" she finally asked, startled even further when Rose said the same thing. "Wait, what?"

"Ohmygosh," the girl being held by Dave said, one hand having leapt to her mouth in shock. "I never—Dave, am I awake?"

"Yeah," he replied, not taking his eyes from Roxy.

"This is happening then?" she persisted.

"Yeah," he said again. "Sooner than you expected, huh?"

Rose seemed to be recovering from her shock, in the meantime. "Oh... I see. This is the not-quite-doppelganger thing you both were talking about a few days ago, isn't it?"

"I think so," the other girl said. "I mean, she looks way too much like your mom to be a coincidence!"

"Okay, hold up," Roxy frowned, holding up her hands. "What is going on here? And what do you mean I look like _her _mom? That's not right."

"Good question," the blue-garbed boy next to Rose muttered. All four of them were still staring at her.

"Um... the short answer would be that you're her mom and she's your mom but not from this universe," the dark-haired girl said. "Oh my gosh that sounds so stupid!" She buried her face in Dave's shoulder for a second. "I'm sorry, I'm too tired to be talking, apparently."

"Just go back to sleep, Harley," Dave patted her shoulder.

"What?" Roxy asked. "Can we take this from the top? Long answer, please."

The four of them in front of her gave each other long glances, as if communicating something that they'd discussed earlier that she wasn't privy to. Well, of course she wasn't, she had just met them! Even if she had kind of known two of them all her life and the other two still seemed like she'd seen them somewhere, even if she couldn't place it.

"This will be a long talk," Rose said with a long-suffering sigh and then a smile at Roxy. "I must say, I am surprised. It is such a coincidence that we both happened to be here right now. But... I confess, I have been looking for you, though I don't know whether I realized it."

"What does _that _mean?" Roxy asked, bemused. She'd almost forgotten how Rose liked to speak in riddles and confusing statements all the time.

"It means that you both are family, in some weird time-loopy nonsense way, and we should all go talk somewhere else," Blue Boy said. "Jade, can you walk?"

"Um... if we take it slowly?" the girl who must have been Jade answered. "Or my coolkid pillow can continue to support me. I like that idea."

"Of course you do," Dave snorted, but he helped her stand.

"Where are we going?" Roxy asked.

"Outside," Rose answered, and then to Roxy's surprise and delight, she tentatively held out her hand. Roxy looked down to it, and then back up to her momdaughtersomething's lavender gaze, her eyes shining, and then placed her own hand in Rose's. "I am glad I found you," she said.

"I ... I am so incredibly confused," Roxy laughed. "But I think I'm happy too."

"Guys, let's go already," Blue Boy urged.

"What's your name?" Roxy asked him.

"John," he said with a grin. "John Egbert. That's my sister, Jade Harley, and Rose's cousin—"

"I know who Dave is," she said. "You're Dirk's brother."

His head snapped up. "You know Dirk?"

"Um... like Johnny here said, we have a lot of talking to do, so let's get going," she said with a too-bright smile.

They ended up leading her outside the city itself, to her surprise, and into the forest. A little ways into the woods, there was a small campsite set up, with one tent and a firepit that currently had no fire, and several packs that sat near the entrance to the tent. The four of them sat in the center, Rose gently pulling Roxy down next to her, and then everyone kind of awkwardly stared at Roxy.

And then, they began to talk.

* * *

_AN: Whoop whoop, this is less of a cliffie right? (I was thinking of going on, but it was looong and I have homework and nope haha!) I don't think it's a bad cliffhanger. I mean, they're just telling Roxy the story of "At The Break Of Dawn" but with no romance, pretty much :P so it's not like you're missing much!_

_We had a whopping seven reviews for last chapter, so I'll be replying to those via PM._

_Also, the 100k celebration giveaway is over! The people who can ask for fics are: MLP Mike (received), LordPeanut (received), Snowy, divis5, Rouge (by the way, I cannot make a oneshot out of the thing you asked me for last time, so expect it to show up as like a twoshot or a threeshot or something soon xD I've been trying to shorten it but no, not happening), Pony, Smartbrainmonkey, and Ravens-Rook. Either put your request in a review or PM me about it, and thanks so much for your support, guys! :D_


	30. Chapter 30: Rose - Another Chance

By the time all of their story had been told, the sun had already set and Jade was half-asleep, lying in the grass with her head in John's lap as he idly stroked her hair. Rose sat next to them, between John and Roxy, and Dave completed the circle across from her. The feeling of astonished wonder that had come over her to begin with, at least after her initial shock at seeing her mother had subsided, had still not dissipated, and judging by the look on said alternate universe mother/daughter's face, Roxy felt much the same.

"Wow," the other Lalonde said, still taking it all in. "I... wow."

"Yeah, we are pretty impressive, aren't we," Dave snorted. "I never realized what a whopper our life story is until we actually had to tell it to someone."

"Some life story," Roxy agreed, looking away from Rose to Jade, who raised a hand to sleepily wave at her. "You seriously can just hop from one universe to another, just like that?"

"Not really 'just like that'," John interrupted, resting a hand on his sister's shoulder. "It was really hard on her..."

"And don't believe her when she tells you she's fine, either," Dave grumbled. "Because that is a load of bullshit."

"Oh, come on," Jade mumbled defensively, flapping a hand at him. "I'm getting there." With a sigh, she rolled onto her back, her head resting on John's knee, and stared up at the stars for a second before she pushed herself into a sitting position.

"Maybe you should go to bed," Rose suggested gently. Jade didn't need to exhaust herself, especially because she had already exerted more energy than they honestly thought she'd had today with all the walking and surprise meeting with Roxy. It would be good if she got some rest; she definitely needed it.

"I will," she nodded, leaning against John's shoulder. "I'll just stay up a few more minutes..."

Next to Rose, Roxy suddenly seemed to remember something, because she jolted and then dug a communicator out of her purse. "Oh, fuck! I forgot I was going to call Jake. He needs to meet you guys!"

John and Jade had gone very still, Rose noted. But that was understandable. She shifted over to squeeze John's hand; he smiled at her gratefully and squeezed hers back.

"Jake...?" Jade asked carefully, sitting up a bit straighter, though she was still leaning against her brother.

"Yeah, he's a really good friend of mine," Roxy said absently, fiddling with the device. "We've been doing a lot. I'll tell you in just a sec—do you mind if I call him over?"

"Jake, as in Jake Harley?" John persisted.

"No, Jake English," Roxy shook her head. Both siblings visibly deflated, slumping against each other ever so slightly. Rose smiled at them sympathetically.

"Wait... come to think of it, though, he does look ridiculously like you," Roxy pointed at John. "And I can sort of see you too, now that I look..." she added, glancing at Jade. "Okay, hold up. Someone re-explain this part, I still don't get it."

"In our original universe," Rose began, noticing the way that Jade and John looked at each other with hopeful smiles again, "Jade and John were the grandchildren of Jake Harley and Jane Egbert. My mother was—well, you, and Dave is my cousin, raised by my late cousin Dirk. Actually, all of you four are dead, where we come from."

"So there was just like, a name change? I get it, I think. But wow, Janey and Jake got together? I guess that's not a total shocker. They were—uh, are sooo cute together!" Roxy giggled. "But man, we're all dead? Your universe must suck!"

"Yeah, it did," John snorted. "There's a reason we left, jeez." He seemed not to have noticed the slip from "were" to "are", but Rose did, and she reached over to touch Roxy's shoulder gently.

"Were?" she asked, already feeling her thoughts starting to whirl about. What had happened recently? She could dig through her visions to see if she could find something, but hopefully Roxy would be more forthcoming. She honestly didn't _want _to go into a seer's trance right now; she was so tired.

"Um... yeah, and hopefully will be again in the future," Roxy admitted, uncomfortably fidgeting with her fingers in her lap. "Hang on, I'll call Jake, and then I'll explain, okay?" The mirth seemed to have drained away like the water in a tub when the stopper was removed. Rose's curiosity was piqued, as was her concern; Jade and John also seemed worried now.

Roxy held up a finger to indicate silence for a moment as she called Jake. After a few seconds when his communicator was presumably ringing, he finally answered. "Hey Jakey! Whoa, slow down, okay. Yeah, um, about that... can you meet me outside the city? Like, right now? –Pleeease? It's kind of urgent!" She sighed, looking up at Rose. "He doesn't want to come out right now because it's past nightfall and he lives kind of close to the dark districts."

"Oh," Rose replied, frowning slightly. "I suppose we can wait until tomorrow, if that's the case." It was a bit disappointing, but impatience was the only reason that Jake would have to venture out tonight, and that was not worth the risk.

"He won't be able to come tomorrow either," Roxy sighed. "Today was his one day off all month, and I totally forgot we had dinner plans. He has a hell of a job, it really sucks. Poor boy barely gets time to eat and sleep! Ugh, now I feel _awful_." She glumly rested her hand on her chin. "Sorry about that, Jake, really..."

"I don't want to wait a whole month," Jade shook her head. "We might not even be here in a month!"

"Wait, why won't you be here in a month?" Roxy asked in alarm. "Oh, yeah, sorry Jake, I'm talking to some people I just met today but not exactly. Ugh, this is complicated, you should be here..."

"We might not stay in this city, or we might, we don't know," Rose explained. "Our plans aren't exactly set in stone right now. Really, the only thing that's certain is that we're staying here until Jade is more recovered, and then we're not really sure what we will do next."

"Oh," Roxy said. She looked disappointed, Rose noticed, and also like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure whether to. After a few moments, just like Rose had suspected, she finally said, "But I would like it if you stayed..."

"So would I," Rose smiled at her. "I admit, I did not always have the best relationship with my mother. I... it would be nice to try again, even though you aren't my mother, really." It was a kind of difficult admission to make, but it was true and wholly so. In the two years since her mother's death, Rose had had a lot of time to think about what she wished she could have said, what she would have done if they could just talk once more. It wasn't quite the same now, because Roxy didn't have the memories of all the tensions and passive aggression that had festered in their household, but all the same... this was like a second chance. Rose was more grateful to Jade than she could really ever articulate for that.

"Y—yeah, me too," Roxy said with a very, very faint wobble in her voice and a tremulous smile, her eyes suspiciously bright. "It's funny, just earlier today I was thinking I missed you so, so much—" she broke off, sniffling and wiping at her eyes. "What? Jake, hush, I'm totally not crying, I promise! And... yes, yes, I met her today, but not exactly, that's what I said, right?"

"Can't he come here?" John sighed, hugging Jade to him in a manner that clearly indicated he just wanted comfort.

"This is ridiculous," Jade sighed, shifting to be a little more comfortable in his arms. "Where is he, anyway?" Without waiting for an answer, she rested her head against John's shoulder and closed her eyes, loosely wrapping her arms around his waist.

Oh no, was she about to do what Rose thought she was about to do? "Jade, wait, you should rest, don't—" she started hastily, reaching out to place a hand on Jade's shoulder, but Jade shook her head.

"I want to do this," she said. "I don't—I can't just sit here knowing that more of my family is so close but I might not see him for another month! You wouldn't want to sit here like this if it was Roxy in question," her voice was plaintive and struck a chord with Rose's heart.

"Jade, you're hurt," she said softly. "You need to recover first—"

"It won't be that big a deal, really," the smaller girl shook her head. "It's just one person, not a group, and a short distance."

"What are they arguing about?" Roxy asked in a stage-whisper, looking from John to Dave and back again.

"Whether to get Jake out here or not," Dave answered, frowning slightly.

"How would they do that?" Roxy was bewildered. "You'd need to like, teleport him or something!"

Dave looked at her skeptically, one eyebrow ever-so-slightly raised as if to ask, _really?_

"Oh," she said. "Ohhh. Right. Jeez, though, people who can teleport are really rare!"

Jade looked up at that. "It's because we always have to hide, you know. And part of me kind of thinks I'm being really silly and reckless by letting you know, but you're family, in some weird alternate-universey way! I lived with you guys for like half a year! So just, please, don't tell anyone?"

"Oh, I would never!" Roxy said hastily, shaking her head. "And neither would Jake, because he has heard most of this conversation and he's kinda confused. We don't exactly support the Empresswitch."

"I'm bringing him here," Jade said with finality, and closed her eyes again. After a few moments, though, she opened them again. "Can someone tell me an approximate area? I'm still getting used to this new universe thing. It has weird effects on Spacey sight and stuff."

"His apartment is number 731, in the building on the corner of Mina Road and the border of the Dark Districts," Roxy offered.

"Thanks!" Jade beamed and once again closed her eyes to concentrate.

"Are you sure this is a good idea—" John started, frowning, when there was a flash of green light, nowhere near as astoundingly brilliant as it had been last time Rose saw it, but still bright. When it faded, a boy who did look a lot like John was standing there in the grass, looking very befuddled indeed as he held his communicator and sat down hard.

"What the hell?" he asked.

"Jakey!" Roxy grinned widely and flung herself across the circle to hug him spontaneously. "I'm _so _sorry for missing dinner, but I think you can see, there was—"

"Holy fucking shit, you're Dirk's brother," he said, pointing at Dave. "What the hell? You're _dead_."

"Holy fucking shit, you're Jade's grandpa," Dave drawled back. "What the hell? _You're _dead too."

"Dave, be nice," Jade chastised, her voice a lot weaker than it had been earlier. John was cradling her close, but she had curled in on herself and looked like she was either in pain or sick. Rose was pretty sure it was the former, judging by all previous occasions, and she leaned over to squeeze Jade's hand.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"Ow," Jade replied, wincing. "Umm... I will be..." She buried her face in John's chest, and he hugged her close worriedly.

"You shouldn't overwork yourself!" he fretted. "I'll make you some tea or something and then you go to bed, okay?"

"Shush," she murmured. "Give me a minute, I'll... I'll be fine!"

"Roxy. What is going on here and who are these people and what the hell is going on here?" Jake stared from face to face. "Oh my god, is that your mom?"

Rose lifted a hand to wave her fingers in greeting. "Hello." She had to stifle a laugh at the look on his face, one of incredible confusion that was so exaggerated as to be comical. Of course, she sympathized with the poor boy, but it was still quite amusing to see him looking around with such an expression!

"What the actual fucking hell?" he finally asked once more. Roxy laughed and slung an arm around his shoulders.

"Yes, that's Dave's brother, and that's my mom, but not exactly. They're from an alternate universe where they're all friends who're the same age, like we are. And also..." she slid her hand down his arm to his own and picked it up so that she could point at Jade. "That's your kid grandma."

"_What?_" he breathed. "You're really—you mean—"

"Wait, what?" John asked. "Jade's his grandma? But does that mean that—" he took on a disgusted face. "Please don't say I'm your grandpa."

Roxy's eyes widened as Rose tried not to laugh again. "Oh, ew, no no no! You're _Janey's _grandpa!"

"Oh, thank god," he sighed with relief. "That would have been _gross_."

"What's wrong with her, though?" Jake asked, scooting over. "Is she alright?"

"Just really tired," Jade opened her eyes to smile weakly. "And kind of in pain. But hi!"

"Oh my fucking god," Dave groaned. "We literally _just _finished explaining all this shit once."

Rose laughed at him, not bothering to hide it. "Well, dear cousin mine, you are always welcome to skip ahead if you so choose. That way you don't have to sit through it again." It was an empty suggestion and they both knew it—he would never use time travel so frivolously just because he was bored, because that was both stupid and risky, but they both also knew that neither would ever turn down a chance to needle at the other. It was just how the family worked, really. But they cared, deep down. Somewhere.

So it came as no surprise when he tossed his head to shake the hair from his eyes and said without missing a beat, "Fuck off, Lalonde."

"Definitely Dirk's brother," Roxy muttered.

"Speaking of Dirk," Dave started, "where is his lazy ass? Around here somewhere?"

"And Nanna—I mean Jane, too! Can we see her tomorrow?" John piped up. "Because no one else is getting teleported in," he added, shooting everyone a meaningful look to indicate that he meant it. It really was pretty cute how protective he was of his little sister, Rose thought with a small smile.

Really, she was just all smiles tonight. But hey, she had a lot to be happy about! Not only were the four of them a lot safer and happier than they were in the past, but also Jade was getting better, and on top of that she had met Roxy today, finally she had the chance to talk to her mother after two long years of self-doubt and regrets. She was determined not to screw up this time. They were going to be close now. Maybe it would help that they were about the same age now, too.

But to her dismay, though the seer in her wasn't wholly surprised, Roxy and Jake exchanged glances, and not the happy kind, either. No, they were both looking at each other with a mixture of helplessness and pain. This was bad.

"Um... oh, gosh, this is hard. They're... not here," Jake finally said, biting his lip and not meeting anyone's gaze.

"Not here?" John asked carefully. "Where are they?"

"We... don't know," Roxy buried her face in her hands. "I guess this is as good a time as any other to tell you our life story, isn't it..."

"Yeah, it is," Dave said. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"Okay. Well, Dirk and I have been friends since childhood. We both live in the upper districts. And our versions of you two—" she pointed with two fingers at Dave and Rose "—were friends or something, and you actually were involved in a sort of secret resistance movement against the Batterwitch. I met Janey around when we were both ten and we sort of just clicked. Best friend right there! And through her I met Jake, and he somehow knew Dirk. So the four of us just... instant best friends all around!" she laughed, but there was a good deal of sadness in the sound, mixed with liberal doses of nostalgia. "But you both were caught and... and executed, when Dirk and I were thirteen, so that's... five years ago, wow. And the next year, Jane's dad and grandpa were both killed in a car crash. And Jake's grandma..."

"I didn't know at the time, but she had been helping with the resistance, just more subtly. We found her lying in the street, stabbed and left to bleed to death, those unscrupulous bastards," Jake said, scrubbing at his eyes.

"That's what they did to my bro," Dave said quietly. Jade reached over and laid her hand atop his.

"Anyway. So... we sort of picked up where they left off," Roxy said with a nervous laugh and shrug. "For a year or two, we've been holding rallies and protests and just... generally inciting people to action. You've been in town a few days, right?"

"Yes," Rose said, realizing where this was going. "You're the Rogue, aren't you?"

"What—how did—wow, um, yeah," Roxy stammered, surprised. "How did you know? Was I being too obvious? I thought I was doing a good job..."

"She's a fucking seer, expect this to happen a hell of a lot," Dave explained. Rose smirked at him.

"You're a seer?!" Roxy cried. "Oh my _god_ am I glad I found you!" Beaming, she hugged Jake again, laughing brightly. "Jake, Jake, Jake, we found a seer!"

Jake hugged her back, grinning just as broadly. "Yes, yes you did!"

"Let me guess, you don't know where Dirk and Jane are, and you think I can find them?" Rose asked, not smiling like they were. Seeing... didn't work like that. You couldn't just ask for a specific vision. You could search, but looking for something so specific as a location of two people on an entire planet was almost impossible to accomplish successfully. Something gave her a feeling that they weren't in this city, though, which was precisely why she would have to scour the whole planet, and that could take months. Visions were finicky at best, and difficult at worst.

"Pretty much," Jake nodded, looking at her hopefully. Rose felt her heart sink. She didn't want to be the one to have to tell him the bad news, so soon after they'd both gotten their hopes up, but there was no way...

"I have more for you to go on, actually," Roxy jumped in. "Um, in general, if you can find anything at all about an organization that calls itself 'Lord English', that would be super helpful. And what they might do when they capture the Shaded Prince and Masked Maiden."

"Oh my god, that's Dirk and Jane, isn't it," Jade asked, one hand flying to her mouth as she attempted to sit up, leaning heavily against John. "Oh no..."

"Yeah," Roxy sighed wearily. "I've been trying to find what I can, but so far no luck... it's as if they've totally wiped themselves from almost every data file, or at least they're super top secret in the data archives I haven't hacked into yet because they probably would notice that and then things would go even _more _to hell."

"I will try," Rose said. "But... not now. We are all tired and we've been traveling today. I would also prefer to See in the morning, because that is when Light is strongest."

"Isn't the light stronger in the afternoon?" Jake asked. "When the Sun is directly overhead?"

"No," Rose laughed, shaking her head. "I take it that neither of you have much schooling in the various magical aspects?"

"Nope," Roxy shook her head. "Did you?"

"All four of us have, in some way or another," Rose answered, glancing once amusedly at Dave and Jade. Jade laughed and nudged Dave's shoulder.

"Some education we had, right?" she giggled.

"The coolest shit ever," he said, monotone. "I mean, I don't know about you but I think all the ridiculous stunts we had to pull were way better than your dork brother's Breath club. Who _wouldn't _want to have to worry about getting kidnapped every day?"

"I wouldn't," Jade said, her smile fading just a bit. Dave took her hand.

"Yeah. Me neither, Harley. It sucked."

"Anyway," Rose returned the focus to her original intent, "I was referring to my magic, which is of the Light aspect. All magical arts wax and wane with time, with the exception of Time itself and its counterpart Space, which always remain constant. For example, Light grows steadily and peaks in power at dawn, and is at its weakest around midnight, because the cycle is not completely symmetric. Conversely, Void is at its height at midnight, and lowest at dawn. Some aspects are more tied to longer periods of time. Breath is one of these, as is Blood—they both are on a cycle of ten days, but in opposition to each other, so that when Breath peaks, Blood is at its weakest."

"Oh," Jake said. "I don't think I completely got that, but alright!"

"So all four of you have magic?" Roxy asked. "I know she's Space, and you just said you're Light. What about Johnny and Dave?"

"You're Space?" Jake asked, gaping at Jade.

"Yup, it's how I teleported you here," she giggled. "And Dave's Time! John is Breath."

"That's awesome!" he grinned. "You can teleport stuff! Does he time travel or something?"

"Yeah," Dave shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal, though. It can be a fucking drag, sometimes."

"You're Hope, right?" John asked, peering at Jake. The other boy sat back in surprise, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Me? Oh, no, I don't think I have an ounce of magic in me!" he said cheerfully, at the same time as Roxy piped up, "I think he is."

"What?" Jake asked her. "Why would you say that?"

"You're just a very... Hopey person!" she waved a hand vaguely in his direction. "I think it makes a lot of sense for you to have Hope magic, if it's anything like what it sounds like. Er..." She looked over to Rose. "What exactly is Hope magic?"

"It manifests in several different ways, just like all other aspects," Rose prefaced, "but mostly, it pertains to light, hope itself, belief, and wishes. People with Hope magic can sometimes use actual lights, as they are part of the overlap between Light and Hope, and they can also manipulate the desires of others, if they are so inclined. Sometimes their beliefs can become true, if they are powerful enough to wish it so."

"So if I'm having an awful day and beating myself up about something and Jake just says 'don't worry, you'll do fine and if anything goes badly it's not your fault', and then I'm fine, would you say that sounds Hopey?"

Rose nodded. "I would most certainly agree with you, it does sound 'Hopey'."

"Well, I never," Jake blinked. "Golly, that's something to take in!"

"Our grandpa had Hope magic, which is why I asked," John explained. "He was pretty good at it! Between him and Nanna with Life, it was pretty hard to have a bad day in our house."

"By the way," Roxy giggled, "did you know in the other universe, you and Janey got married and had kids and these two are your grandkids?"

Jake turned some shade of scarlet, though at least for his sake it was somewhat hidden by the cover of darkness. "I... I did not know that."

Roxy laughed.

"Hey, guys, I'm going to bed," Jade said, sitting up slowly before pushing herself to her unsteady feet. John hopped up to hold her before she wobbled and fell. "Good night, and I'm really happy to have met you! We can chat more soon, 'kay?"

"Good night, Jade!" Jake grinned at her. "Sleep well, and I do hope you feel better come morning!"

"I presume you both are going to be staying with us tonight," Rose looked between the two newcomers to the group, though they didn't feel like newcomers. No, they felt like they belonged too. It was strange, pouring one's heart out to someone they'd just met, but on the other hand, they _hadn't_ just met. Rose and Roxy had known each other all their lives, just without knowing it. Goodness, she thought wryly, all of the technicalities that came with time travel and universe-jumping were certainly interesting to deal with, to say the least.

"Oh... ha, yeah, I guess so," Roxy blinked. "I don't have anywhere to be anyway, so I can chill with you peeps for a while! It'll be cool to catch up, Mom."

"Well, in that case, I'd love to have you stay with us, Mom," Rose raised an eyebrow, amused. "And what about you, Jake?"

"I can certainly spend tonight here," the other boy nodded. "I will have to leave early in the morning, but that would be preferable to going back to my apartment at this time. And I do not think that Jade is in any condition to send me back."

"No, no she is not," Dave agreed. "At some point we're going to have to hold her down. She hates being less than one fucking hundred percent her best."

"Yes," Rose agreed, looking over to the tent, where Jade was presumably asleep or almost there, curled up in John's arms again. It was an admirable trait in her dear friend, and one that she was proud of her for possessing, but at times it could be detrimental for her, and this looked like one of those. She worried about Jade sometimes, not that she would ever really say so aloud unless the situation really and truly required it, and she wanted the other girl to be alright. It would take time and patience from all of them.

The rest of them remained awake a little while longer, but soon, as the silver stars twinkled serenely overhead and the moon bathed the clearing in clear light, they all retired for the night, except for Dave, who kept watch. It was peaceful, and as she closed her eyes, Rose felt Roxy slip her hand into hers, and smiled.

* * *

_AN: __Wowowow, you guys, chapter 30! I am excited to have reached this point. :D I thought for a while about how wary or not they'd all be of each other, and... honestly? They're family, and they're all wounded kids. They're going to cling to each other. So that's why we had people pouring their life stories out this chapter. It's odd, yeah, because they just met, but... the thing is, they _didn't _just meet. So yeah! Feelings are confusing, but I wasn't sure if even Rose would really bother stating this rationale because to her, it seems pretty obvious. :o_

_Reviews are once again at a whopping seven, so PM replies again. But by the way, Snowy, Smartbrainmonkey, Raven, and Rouge, if you guys want fic requests, let me know! ;D_

_Today's virtual confection is anything you would like from Starbucks, because the one near my school just opened this weekend and I'm currently enjoying a mocha frappucino. c:_

_Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing!_


	31. Chapter 31: Jane - The Night Is Darkest

It had probably been days.

Days and nights, hours upon endless agonizing hours had passed and Jane couldn't stop crying, couldn't get the memory of the blood and screams and the awful _crack _of the whip, couldn't get the image of the soldier-guards beating Dirk savagely as he lay helplessly on the cold, hard stones, out of her mind. She was sitting in her cell once again, wrapped in the thin paltry blanket and curled up on the cot and thinking that not too long ago Dirk had been here holding her where now there was only empty air, so very empty. And it was even more lonely than she had been earlier, if that was possible.

She hadn't been sleeping well, either, waking up sobbing with the memory of tyrian lightning arcing through the air fresh before her eyes and a strangled scream clawing its way out of her throat. The thin, threadbare blanket she and Dirk had been provided with—finally, at least a small comfort, right?—provided little to no protection from the terrors of her mind, and there was nothing she wanted more than to go home, to please, please _please_ just go home. One day, one day soon, she was sure this place was going to rip her apart, because slowly but surely she was losing herself to the way her mind just kept throwing more and more awful things at her and the way she couldn't—couldn't stop thinking about that day, couldn't stop missing Dirk and oh god, Dirk.

He was probably dead.

There was no denying it. There was no use denying anything anymore. Dirk was probably dead or very close to it, considering the awful condition he'd been in when she last saw him, covered in his own blood and being beaten mercilessly into the ground, bruises already marring his pale skin as he gasped and coughed up blood, and probably with several broken bones, if what she'd seen was anything to go by. Without proper care, there was almost no way he was going to survive. Dirk was dying or already dead, one or the other and at this point it wasn't like it mattered anymore anyway, because by the time she found him again he was sure to be dead, these—these awful, atrocious _monsters_ had killed him.

Oh god. Her Dirk, her beloved best friend, her dearest Dirk. Dead, killed, bludgeoned to death right in front of her after he'd killed someone—two someones, because no matter how much she hated them hated them _hated them_, she couldn't bring herself to discard the fact that these soldiers were people with lives, worries, cares, and families of their own, too—with his own hands, his gentle, calloused and skilled hands that had built Lil Seb for her and held her close when she cried, stroked her hair and typed silly messages to her when he was in class and didn't feel like paying attention, those hands, those hands had killed people, right in front of her, and the thoughts all jumbled together in her head, a huge knot of confusion and horror and more confusion that made her sick, even sicker than she already felt, and she wanted to scream.

It came out as a shriek that turned into another strangled sob as she buried her face in her hands, feeling hot tears overflowing and spilling down her cheeks and into her fingers, messy as always but she didn't care about that, she just wanted to leave, she couldn't be here much longer, she couldn't take it, she couldn't do it, she hated everything about this cell and oh god, why was she here, she couldn't do this, not for the rest of her life, that was too long, too, too long to be trapped here in the dark.

She didn't know how long she sat on the edge of the cot and cried, awful thick sobs that clogged up her throat and made it hard to breathe as she hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth with the blanket clutched desperately around her shoulders, seeking some semblance of comfort that just refused to come. She didn't know how long after that she lay limply against the rough fabric, sniffling and wanting to be held, wanting to go home, wanting her dad back, wanting... just wanting.

She didn't know how long would take for anything to change. She didn't know how many minutes, hours, or days ticked by, filled with tears, nightmares, and sleepless, exhausting nights—were they even nights? She didn't know that either—that left her feeling even worse than before. All she knew was that something was going to have to change. Something had to change, because... because she couldn't go on like this, she really, truly couldn't. At some point, she was going to snap, she could feel that point drawing closer and closer and she really didn't know what she was going to do when she reached it. She would just... break, and then ... then what? She was never going to betray Jake. Jake was the last piece of light she could cling to, here in this awful dark, depressing dungeon whose walls seemed to always be closing in, and she was always afraid, maybe irrationally so, but still terribly frightened that they were going to collapse and bury her alive here and she would suffocate in the dark, and those would be her last moments.

Sometimes she had nightmares like that, sometimes, when the walls would start closing in and in and in until they were pressing her into a too-small crypt, cold, hard stone against her back and thighs and shoulders and her arms pinned to her side as she cried out in terror, and sometimes when she had these nightmares the walls would stop just when she was trapped but still breathing, and then pink lightning would appear, crackling wildly and terrifying as it shot all over, and then she would see Dirk, and she would try to call out to him but her voice was frozen in her throat, and then finally when he turned around his face was a cold, hard impersonal mask that scared her even more than the stone crushing her, and then sometimes he would turn back into her Dirk, the one she loved with all her heart, and he would start running so slowly to save her, but she would see a soldier rising up behind him and she would try to scream a warning, but her voice would still be stuck and not working, and there would be an awful moment when she could _see _the axe swinging in slow motion, and then she would wake up just as Dirk's head separated from his body, and she would _scream, _and then she would cry for maybe an hour, maybe a day.

It was at those times, when her mind played tricks on her and she felt the most vulnerable, that she just really, really wanted to go home, more than anything. But there was no way she was going to ever see her little dingy apartment's comforting walls ever again, no way. She knew it, and yet she still tried to cling to fantasies. Sometimes she imagined that her cell door would open, but instead of her abhorrent captor, who she hadn't seen since that day, Jake would be there, and he would hug her and gently lead her outside, out of this place and away from the awful Batterwitch, and there would be no resistance, and she would be free to just cling to him and cry into his shoulder and he would hold her and whisper "it'll be okay, it'll be okay", and it would be.

But fantasies were just fantasies. Jake wasn't coming, not now and not ever. It was just a fact of life that she was going to have to accept, sooner or later. There was no getting around it. There was no knight in shining armor that would come rescue her, there was no way she was going to get out at all. She was stuck here until the day she died.

Sometimes, and these were the times that Jane felt the most scared of all, she wondered if it would be better if she found a way to bring that day closer.

* * *

At some point, she stopped crying so much. She wasn't really sure what prompted it or why or anything at all, honestly, but she was a little glad. Crying was draining, both emotionally and physically. She didn't want to just lie there feeling disgusted with herself and so very exhausted like she had been. Gradually, the tears just dried up. They stopped coming, and she found herself numb instead, numb, dark and gloomy. It was fitting, and she figured it was also preferable to bawling her eyes out for hours on end. That was too exhausting. She didn't have it in her to sob her heart out all the time.

Dirk, Dirk, Dirk, she wanted Dirk, she wanted him here so badly it was like a physical ache. Wistfully, she recalled the memory of waking up the day after they'd been put in the cell together, after she'd forgiven him for the botched, awful attempt at protecting her from exactly what his efforts had brought about. She'd almost thought that it was too good to be true, that she had to still be dreaming, when she slowly came to awareness again with a warm body next to hers, with firm arms wrapped around her as amber eyes regarded her tenderly, with a little gentle half-smile to greet her as he murmured a good morning. And she'd been happy, so, so very painfully happy, all of that day, and the next when she woke up and hugged him close, and by the time he woke up too she was playing with his hair and just smiling and smiling because with him somehow the terror was suspended, just a bit, and she felt like herself again.

And then in a flash of lightning and horror, her source of light in the darkness had been snuffed out.

Suddenly, Jane found herself wondering about him, not just missing him desperately and _needing _him back. She started to wonder. He ... he was probably dead, it was better to believe that he was dead rather than letting herself hope he was alive still, better not to get her hopes up rather than to let them soar, because the higher they climbed, the further they had to fall. But he would have died alone, alone in the dark. Had he been thinking of her? Had he cried? Had he reached out into the blackness blindly, groping to see if he could find her hand, but only touched harsh stone, in his final moments bereft of any comfort? Had he... had he died alone, in agony?

She didn't like the idea, she didn't want to think it was possible, but somehow, something in her whispered again that it was better to believe the worst, better to never let herself hope again. Another tear, surprisingly, slipped out when she thought of Dirk, alone, cold, and afraid, lying in the dark, bloody and broken until the last of his breath escaped him and the warm light went out of those honey-colored eyes that she had come to love so dearly—

She closed her eyes, another tear squeezing out and falling silently from her cheek down onto her arm as she bowed her head. _I'm sorry_, she thought, knowing that he wouldn't ever hear it but wanting him to know anyway. _I'm so, so sorry._ And suddenly she felt guilty, she felt awful for all the nightmares she'd had when he wasn't her Dirk, when he wasn't the caring person with a kind of tough exterior who devoted himself to protecting her and Jake and Roxy and everything they stood for, she felt so, so terrible for ever thinking that him using his terrible brand of magic could ever change how much she loved him or how much he loved her—how much he _had _loved her.

He was gone now, gone, gone _gone_ just like Poppop and Dad were, and she couldn't do anything—she had just watched—oh god, Dirk, she wanted him back, she wanted him back!

_I love you, _she thought desperately, clutching the edges of the blanket around herself so hard her knuckles went white. _I love you, I love you, I'm sorry, I should never have doubted you, please, please don't—don't be dead, you can't be dead, you have to come back, please, come back, don't leave me here alone, I love you_.

Dirk.

Oh god, she was in such an unstable frame of mind right now, she couldn't deal with anything. It was perhaps a small blessing that Doctor Scratch was leaving her alone for now, because she didn't think she would have been able to take another round of questioning. No, she would probably have had another breakdown and started crying so hard he wouldn't have been able to understand her anyway. Maybe the man was off recovering from what Dirk had done to him, maybe, maybe maybe maybe. Maybes didn't matter. Maybes kept her uncertain, and she hated uncertainty. All that she knew was that Dirk was gone, she couldn't stop crying, and Scratch didn't talk to her now.

And... and what about Roxy? Roxy was probably here, too, knocked out cold and not waking up. Was she dead, too? Hell, why didn't Jane just lay down and die, too, they could all be dead together. Wait, no, that left Jake, and she didn't want Jake to die. Jake had to live. Jake was too sweet and happy to die. He couldn't. And if she wanted him to be happy, she had to live. She had to live for Jake. And wouldn't Dad and Poppop be disappointed in her if she just gave up?

_Crockers don't ever lay down and give up the fight_, she could almost hear Poppop lecturing at her, wagging one finger sternly. _We are stubborn and we are good at what we do. If someone tries to tell you otherwise, you argue with him until your last breath!_

Dad had broken in at that point, laughing slightly as he told his father to calm down and have some cake or something, she remembered wildly. And he had hugged her and told her it was true, though, she shouldn't give up on things that were important to her.

Nothing was more important to her than the few people she had left to live for. Maybe she had to live for Roxy, and she definitely had to live for Jake. She was going to cling to her life until her last breath, then. _I promise, Poppop, I won't give up,_ she vowed silently, burying her face in her hands after a moment. Oh god, was she about to cry again? Maybe she was. Maybe she was just going crazy in here.

She just... she just really wanted to go home, okay? She was lonely and she felt awful and she didn't know what to do with herself anymore. Going home would have been the most beautiful, amazing thing that could have happened then.

Jane sighed and reached up to wipe away a tear. She was so confused, too. What was she supposed to make of her situtation? There was nothing, nothing left of everything she had clung to. Earlier, when she was all alone in a cell, she'd had the knowledge that Dirk was there, Dirk was okay, to hold on to. She'd had the hope of seeing him again. But now? She didn't dare let herself believe in that kind of hope. Hope was futile. It just led to more hurt, hurt and pain and oh god, she just really, really wanted to get out of here.

Shaking her head, she closed her eyes. _Think, Crocker, what do you know? _

There were a few things. Firstly, that as far as she could tell, the revolution was dead, dead, dead, just like Dirk probably was. If she, Dirk, and Roxy were all out of the picture, it wasn't fair to ask Jake to carry on for them all, and anyway, he probably wouldn't have done it. He relied on them all too much for that, just like she did. They all relied on each other, really. The revolution was dead and gone, over with. Second, she was, to the extent of her knowledge, the only link left to provide information on the revolution, if Dirk was dead or dying and Roxy was unconscious. The thought of Dirk dying, right here, right now, this instant, but away from her—was he, at this very moment, afraid and alone in the dark like she was, as the sensation drained away and everything got darker and colder and she wasn't there for him—no, no, she wasn't going to think that thought, she wasn't, she wasn't! She was going to keep thinking calmly and rationally, because her emotions were out of control, so very upset and oh god no, no, she couldn't think about Roxy or Dirk. But it made her wonder, that little corner of her mind that still was able to think. What could the Batterwitch want with the brains of the revolution? She had the perpetrators all nice and lined up. She might as well have just sent them to the chopping block and been done with it—

Oh no, that reminded her of her nightmares. Her awful, awful nightmares where Dirk died right in front of her, but at least that was a quick death, because his head went one way and his body went another and oh god oh god oh god she couldn't, she couldn't do this, there was no way she could just stay calm and think rationally. Who had she even been kidding when she'd thought of that? It wasn't happening.

It was so, so dark and cold in here. The walls were closing in, she was sure of it.

_Dirk, Roxy, Jake... _

She wasn't a hero, she wasn't the great Masked Maiden. She was a terrified, wounded girl of a meager eighteen years, and she just really, really wanted to go home.

* * *

_AN: Guys ;_; Janey... :'(_

_Let me just get out all the sad emoticons D: T.T :(_

_This chapter made me sad to write. Like, it really did. Poor Jane, she just needs a hug... _

_Review responses will be via PM because holy macaroni, nine reviews for last chapter! :O I'm shocked! Thank you so much! :D I'm really glad people are enjoying this story._

_Oh, and you guys got us past 100 reviews. All the milestones are being accomplished here. All of them. B)_

_Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, and you're all awesome!_


	32. Chapter 32: Jade - Before The Dawn

Today's weather was warm, almost uncomfortably hot, really. It was to be expected now that it was summer, though, and no one really complained too much, other than Dave, who liked to complain about most things if he got a chance. Jade thought it was pretty funny of him. And then John splashed him with a bucket of water, saying "Well, you said you were too hot!" before flitting away with laughter echoing behind him, leaving a sopping, unamused Dave in his wake. Jade had laughed so hard she'd had to sit down. Well, she had to sit down because she suddenly felt overcome by dizziness, but she had passed it off as laughing. It _had _been really funny!

Roxy was still with them, too, almost a week after they'd met. Sometimes she stole back into town in the dead of night to continue her work as the Rogue. John had approached her, curious, because she was always mentioning offhandedly how dangerous the city was at night, especially outside of the upper districts, but she walked around alone, and how did that even work?

She had responded with a grin and a "Watch and learn, Johnny boy," before she vanished from sight completely. John's expression of shock had been comical.

Ever since then, Rose had been giving Roxy lessons in what she knew of magic theory, especially all the tidbits she had gathered about Void, which seemed to be what Roxy had. Invisibility and conjuration were a dead ringer for Void, Rose had said, and it was true—Rose's mother, or... well, Rose's biological mother, not Roxy, or Roxy from the other universe (gosh! This was so complicated!) had also had Void magic, albeit not as strong as Roxy's, though that might have just been from lack of practice.

Now, it was late morning, and Jade was sitting with John and Dave as Rose and Roxy discussed magic theory across the campsite.

"Shit," Dave said, amusement radiating from his every movement, "I don't envy her one bit."

Roxy looked a little dazed as Rose continued talking, occasionally nodding or interjecting a few words. Jade couldn't blame her! All this knowledge was probably overwhelming. And the fact that it was coming from a Light mage, the one opposed to a Void mage like Roxy, was most likely not helping, either. But Rose knew the most about this than the rest of them; John was probably the next most likely contender for most knowledgeable on magic, as he'd had actual lessons. Whatever Jade and Dave knew had been gleaned from illegal studies—but that was another story.

"Rose's explanations can be a little... wordy," John agreed, snickering ever so slightly. "But hey, at least she's doing the teaching, and not us. I wouldn't want to!"

"I don't think I'd mind that much," Jade shrugged, leaning against his side and enjoying the feel of the warmth of the sun on her hair. It was almost uncomfortably hot but not quite, and she shed her light travelling cloak, since they weren't really going anywhere until this was done. "It's kind of cool to be able to explain stuff about wormholes and teleportation and spatial paradoxes—mmph!"

"That is _not _your ticket to start talking my ears off about fucking Spacey stuff," Dave said, removing his hand from her mough. "Or else I will have to retaliate, and you don't want that. We all know you just can't stand Time's goddamn infinite intricacies, the stable and unstable loops, and the very ability to time travel itself—Ow! Dammit, Harley," he grumbled, rubbing his shoulder while Jade giggled, having flicked him rather hard before falling back onto John.

"Well, I could always talk about Breathy stuff," John started, grinning with way too much amusement at his own well-timed interruption.

"No," Dave and Jade said at the same time.

"Vetoed," Dave added, as Jade shook her head. "You aren't allowed to say a fucking _word_."

John laughed. "Oh, fine, but I don't know why you wouldn't want to hear it! It's pretty awesome, dude."

"What do you even have to think about with goddamn wind? The precise angle and force? The direction you blow from? Whether you're full of fucking hot air or not?" Dave asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"Rude, Dave! Man, so rude!" John shook his head, and Jade laughed.

A few moments passed in relative silence, the only sounds the murmuring rise and fall of Rose's voice and the twittering of the birds perched in the rustling trees. It was very peaceful. How long had it been since they'd all just ... enjoyed themselves, really, like this? Jade didn't remember. Months, at least. She had only woken up with one nightmare last night, though, so that was definitely a plus, and maybe she was just too exhausted for nightmares, but it made her feel so much better that it was unbelievable, even though her body was still dead tired and she just ended up lying around all the time like this, sometimes with a stab of pain. But her mind was feeling better, maybe because they weren't being chased anymore and it was such a liberating, wonderful feeling, to be free like a bird now. It was amazing, and it made her feel amazing, too.

"So," she started after a minute, shifting so that she could lean her back against John's arm and haphazardly toss her legs across Dave's lap, "what are we doing today, anyway?"

"Dunno," Dave shrugged, rolling his shoulders and tossing his head to flick the hair from his eyes. "Roxy mentioned she had some stuff to do, right? I guess we could always go help her out. And Rose wants to get started on that whole finding Bro and Jane, so I guess we could do that. What the hell _are _we doing? We have to figure our shit out at some point, I swear. Do we ever even do that?"

"We always seem to just wing it," John grinned.

Jade laughed. "Oh my gosh, was that a Breath pun?"

"Yes, yes it was," her brother said proudly. Dave rolled his eyes.

"My point being," the Time mage continued, "sometimes I just wonder. What the fuck is up with us? We never try to figure out our plans and then we freak out when they don't work. And yeah, we 'wing it', and sometimes that works out, but sometimes it doesn't, and..." he paused, hesitating, because the biggest example of their plans not working out was Jade being captured, but no one wanted to _talk _about that, "and I just don't want to have somethiing shitty like _that _happen again," he finished lamely. "Because that fucking sucked."

"Yup, it did," Jade agreed. The sun didn't seem as warm all of a sudden, and she picked up her cloak and draped it over herself like a blanket. Dave looked at her a little guiltily, resting his hand on her knee in a silent apology.

"Anyway," John interrupted before the moment could grow awkward or sad or both, "you're probably right, we should start making an actual plan of action for what to do now! I think the first thing would be that we should just go to wherever Roxy's base of operations is, because we're gonna help her find Dirk and Jane, and we'd be able to hide there, right?"

Eager to move on before any dark memories were stirred up, Jade nodded. "Plus, it might be easier for Rose to do her seer thing if we're somewhere that was familiar with the people she's looking for, I think. From what Roxy said, they spent a lot of time in their hideout, wherever it is. Maybe when we're there we can also do more research about the differences between this universe and our... the old one!"

This was going to be her universe from now on. The old one wasn't. This was her universe, and she was _not _going to be homesick for a place that would have killed her, slowly and painfully. She missed Nanna and Grampa, she missed Dave's brother and Rose's mom, but they were all dead and gone anyway. And after over two years, it wasn't like Dave's apartment was going to be the same cozy little place, and it was unlikely that Rose's house had survived the bombs and riots the night they'd fled the city. That universe had nothing but memories now. Here, she had the chance for a new life, with everyone she loved! No, she had no regrets. She was just going to have to get used to it.

"Yeah, sounds good," John agreed. "Any ideas, Dave?"

"We have to figure out where the damn place is," Dave replied coolly. "Other than that, I don't have much else to add. Other than that we just have to use our heads—which I know is hard for you, Egbert, because you and your windy shit never have to think, but chill—and not get ourselves in a fuckton of trouble, if we can do that."

"Oh, man, we always struggle with that," John snorted. "Staying out of trouble? Us?"

"We can _try_," Jade laughed, going along with his attempt to lighten the mood. John grinned, Jade giggled, and Dave shook his head and chuckled, all of them bathed in the warm golden rays of the sun.

* * *

The next evening found the five of them making their way into the city again, winding through alleys and back roads until they were all but lost in the upper districts somewhere, but close to the boundary between the two sections of the city. It wasn't so much of a well-defined edge as a melting point where the nice, tall and tech-savvy buildings of the upper sectors gave way to precarious towers of brick and dirt roads, a few market squares and parks bridging the gap. Roxy looked around and nodded to herself, then held out her hands.

"Okay, I've never tried to turn anyone else invisible, so I dunno if this is going to work," she said, "but I think it'd help if you were all in contact with me and each other like a big single entity. So everyone hold hands, and then we'll get going!"

John took her hand and Rose's, while on her other side Jade slid her fingers into Roxy's, her other hand already clasped in Dave's. Curious, she looked at Roxy, who closed her eyes in concentration, and then—vanished, straight into thin air. But wait... no, she could still see a faint shimmer around the borders where she knew the other girl was, outlining her profile. Jade looked at herself, and was startled to see that the same effect had come over her, too! And John, and Dave. Rose, though... Rose was translucent, not fully invisible, and Jade giggled at the sight.

"This is probably because Light and Void stand opposite each other," she sighed, raising her free hand to look at it from both sides. "Do you think you could try a little harder on me, Roxy?"

"I can totes try!" Roxy's voice said, next to Jade, who jumped, making Dave behind her snort with amusement. This whole invisibility took some getting used to, that was for sure!

After a moment, during which Roxy's hand tightened on Jade's, Rose faded slowly from sight until she too was just a faint shimmer of an outline, just like the rest of them. "There we go!" Roxy said, and Jade was pretty sure she was beaming.

"So where are we going?" John's voice floated over from Roxy's other side as the girl began to walk, tugging John and Jade, who in turn pulled along Rose and Dave.

"Into the Tunnels," Roxy replied, her voice a little hushed. "Don't speak so loudly. If they can hear you, what's the point of being invisible?"

"Sorry," John said. "Also... what tunnels?"

"We called them the Undercity," Jade answered for Roxy. "Remember, where Dave and I would go to study?"

"Ohhhh!" came the realization, quickly hushed by both Lalondes. "Sorry, sorry!"

"Is Jake going to be there?" Jade wanted to know. She would dearly have liked to see him again! Even though he wasn't quite the same as grumpy old Grampa had been, he was close, and he was also family anyway! She wanted to spend more time with him, and from what he'd said, he definitely wanted to get to know her and John better, too! Even if Roxy did keep teasing him about how another him had married Jane.

"Yup!" Roxy replied, pulling them around a corner into another alleyway. "But he'll be along later. In the meantime, we can get some stuff started, right?"

"Right," Rose agreed.

A few minutes later, they were in the dark Undercity—uh, Tunnels—where Roxy knew just where to go, leading them to a nice apartment type set of rooms that was almost completely unused and also pretty well hidden. It was a good place for a secret base, Jade thought as they trooped inside and looked around.

"First things first," Rose said, walking to one of the two couches set around a coffee table. "Give me everything you can tell me about Dirk and Jane's disappearance and whatever you know about this Lord English."

Roxy flopped onto the other couch. "Okay... well, they disappeared on the day of the Massacre, about a month ago, but you already knew that. Um... the soldiers have some weird green outfit, no visible crest or anything though, and they have a grudge against the Batterwitch, cuz they killed a bunch of her soldiers before killing everyone else, too. I haven't been able to find anything on them in the area, and whatever intel the Witch has on them is in the higher up security files that I haven't cracked yet. Other than that, they're just mentions here and there in what I did get."

"How did you find out about them?" Rose asked.

Roxy paused, a look of dawning realization on her face. "You know... I never even _thought _about asking about how AR knew," she said slowly. "Hold up, I've gotta make a call." She pulled her communicator out of her pocket and dialed a number. "Hey, AR," she greeted jovially, though none of the cheer in her voice was reflected on her face. "I actually have a question for _you_, mister! How did _you_ know that it was Lord English that took them?"

After a few almost-but-not-quite-strained moments during which John broke the tension by plopping onto the couch next to Roxy, she nodded. "Oh, gotcha. Yeah, I was just wondering if you maybe had more surprise intel where that came from! But oh well. I'll keep digging, 'kay? Yeah, okay... mhm... oh! Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! Holy shit, Dirky, your bro's not completely dead!"

Jade immediately whipped her head around to look at Dave, who was sitting next to her on the cushions on the floor. His eyebrows had shot up, and even though he remained mostly expressionless as usual, she could read plain as day the question on his face—_Dirky?_—that he didn't want to voice, not quite yet. Rose, too, looked inquisitive, almost pensive. Jade was wondering what was up with this entire conversation! First, she hadn't referred to this person as Dirk, she'd called him "AR". And then if it was Dirk, they could just trace the call, no seer powers needed! So it couldn't possibly be Dirk, no matter how little sense that made. But if it wasn't Dirk, who was it? And why was Roxy telling him about Dave?

"It's a long story," Roxy was saying with a laugh, seeming completely at ease again. "Jake can tell you, though! He knows. I've got some stuff to do, so I'll talk to you later, 'kay? Okay, bye!" When she tossed the communicator onto the cushions beside her, everyone was looking at her expectantly, and she let out a sheepish giggle. "Uh... yeah, I'm guessing you'll be wanting an explanation for that," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Yes, that _would_ be nice," Rose said dryly.

"Was that Dirk?" John asked, his eyes wide behind his square glasses.

"Kind of?" Roxy hedged. "I... in a way, I guess?"

"Is this one of his fucking robots or something," Dave deadpanned. "Damn him, he always talked about making his own self into a computer. Don't tell me the idiot actually did it."

"Yeah," Roxy drew out the word, shaking her head. "He did. Two years ago. It's his new answering machine, a spare Dirk, whatever. Usually we just call it Auto Responder or AR, but he's been pretty helpful these past few weeks. He's the one who told me about Lord English."

"And how did he know?" Rose asked, steering the conversation back on track.

"He had hacked a few files himself, and that was the only pertinent threat group he could find, plus apparently they are known for green uniforms, which I kind of found something to corroborate. So he's pretty sure that they're the ones. No other dissident factions or whatever are active in this sector."

"So we don't have it completely for sure, but just mostly certain," Rose sighed. "Alright. Anything else?"

"Um..." Roxy bit her lip, staring at the ceiling in thought. "No, other than that I got the general impression that wherever their headquarters are, it's not near here."

"Okay," Rose nodded. "I'll give it a shot." She rose gracefully and walked to the hallway leading to the other rooms in the complex, pausing once to twist halfway around and look back at Roxy. "Do you mind letting me use your bedroom? I will probably be in a trance for a while, so I'd prefer seclusion."

"Oh, nah, go for it!" Roxy waved a hand dismissively, a bright, hopeful smile that would not be denied spreading across her face. "And thanks a _ton_!"

Rose smiled at her. "Of course," she said, disappearing into the other room and closing the door.

* * *

To pass the time while Rose was in a trance, Roxy opened up the game cupboard, pulling out a pack of cards. Jade played the first game, but by the time they finished she could tell that she was too fatigued to stay competent in the second, so she opted to just watch. At some point, amid the laughter, she fell into a heavy slumber, lying on the cushions.

_It was dark, so dark, so dark and cold and terrible and oh god she knew this place, this was her cell. How had she gotten back here? She didn't remember, but she was terrified, she was here again and the dank smell was getting to her, her bare feet against the rough stone of the floor as she crumpled into the harsh embrace of her little cot. Suddenly she became aware of how much her body _hurt, hurt hurt hurt_ with great waves of agony rolling through her from the day's tortures, and she let out a piteous whimper. No, no, no, she didn't want to be here, they'd gotten her out why was she back?!_

_They were going to hurt her more now, the awful ... whatever it was that hooked into her magic painfully and pulled and pulled and ripped and tore, like dragging a fishhook through flesh, and they would make her teleport back and forth across a room, or shift objects into other places or change sizes, and then when she couldn't stand from exhaustion they would beat her, with heavy boots and lashes and then they would make her get up and do it again, and when she finally collapsed and the world went black, they would dump her back here. That was her life again. That was all there was, and it hurt, it hurt so much, there was a searing fire running through her entire body as she began to cry—_

"Jade!" Dave shook her awake, and she bit back a shriek, her eyes flying wide open as she went completely still. She was in a bright room, in Dave's arms, with John looking at her worriedly and Roxy peeking over at her with concern. She was not in a cell, she was not in the dark, she didn't hurt, there was no excruciating agony running through her. "You're safe," Dave said gently, pulling her into a hug, and like every time someone woke her from a nightmare she clung to him and began to cry softly, clutching at him with all the strength she had as she wept into his shoulder. "Shh... you're safe now, I've got you," he murmured, rubbing her back soothingly, and Jade nodded against him slightly to show that she'd heard.

"Is she okay?" she heard Roxy asking John, worry in her voice.

"It's nightmares," John answered. "She gets them a lot. She'll be okay, though," he added, a note of optimism in his voice. Jade drowned him out in her mind because she didn't want to focus on being okay in the future, she wanted to focus on clearing those awful dark thoughts away, out of her mind, so that she could stop crying, so that she didn't think about it. It was why she was clinging to Dave right now—arms around her, hands holding her, a voice murmuring gentle words, all of those made her remember where she was, and that she was with people who loved her, and that she was going to make it.

When she finally lifted her head and wiped at her eyes, feeling so very glad that Dave knew just what she needed and he didn't just let go, only loosened his arms around her enough that he could look her in the eyes, Dave cupped her chin and wiped away another tear. "Better?" he asked, voice still tender and soft, not sarcastic and brazen like usual.

She nodded, sniffling, and hugged him again. "Yeah," she said, and might have hugged him once more when there was a tap on her shoulder. Surprised, she turned her head to be presented with the view of an enticingly steaming mug of hot cocoa, topped with a deliciously large dollop of whipped cream, offered to her by Roxy.

Blinking in surprise, she took one hand from Dave's shoulder, twisting around so that she was sitting more sideways in his lap than facing him, and accepted the mug gratefully. "Thanks," she murmured, giving the other girl a watery smile.

Roxy responded with a sympathetic smile of her own, her hand coming to squeeze Jade's shoulder in solidarity once. "No problem," she said. "Hot cocoa usually helps after nightmares and crying, so I thought you might want some."

"You were right," Jade said, smiling a bit more genuinely now as she licked the whipped cream. "Hot cocoa does help."

John scooted over next to Dave, looking at her with concern shining in his ocean-blue eyes, and Jade smiled at him too, trying to reassure him that she was okay, really. He smiled back, at least a little more at peace.

Looking around at them all, Jade noticed a few things. First, the clock on the wall read three hours after she'd fallen asleep. Rose was still in a trance? Surely she must be exhausted by now. Probably she would come talk to them any minute now! Second, Jake was sitting next to Roxy, his expression full of the same concern John had. He must have arrived sometime before she woke up. And there was a half-finished card game lying on the floor, which her nightmare must have interrupted.

"Hi," she said to Jake, waving slightly with the arm that was wound about Dave's neck.

"Hello," he greeted in return, waving back at her. "Are ... are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," she replied, pointedly looking at John. "It was a nightmare, that's all! I'm _fine _now, so there's really _no need _to worry."

Jake nodded, flashing a grin at her. "Of course! As the lady says. Stop fretting, John!" Jade giggled slightly. As obtuse as he could be about some things, at least he noticed that it was quite obvious she was trying to get her brother to stop worrying!

"I'm not _fretting_!" John protested, but trailed off when he saw the raised eyebrow Roxy was giving him.

"Really?" she asked. "Coulda fooled me!"

"Holy shit, you sounded just like Rose," Dave interjected from above Jade's head, and she giggled again.

"Well, we _are _related, ya know," Roxy shook her head. "What did you think, that we were gonna be one-hundred-percent super different? Because let me tell you, you are _just _like Dirk, in some ways."

Dave raised an eyebrow at her. "Related doesn't mean fucking _identical_," he replied. "You sounded exactly like Rose. Which is fucking weird."

"Speaking of Rose," Jake interrupted, "how long has she been back there, exactly?"

"Exactly?" Dave asked. "Three hours, twenty four minutes, and sixteen seconds. Well, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, now—twenty, twenty-one—"

"Okay, okay, shut up!" Jake said hurriedly. "Goodness gracious. Was that really necessary?"

"It's Dave," John shrugged. "What do you expect?"

"Whoa now, Egbert, what is _that _supposed to mean?" Dave asked, holding up one hand defensively, the other still wrapped around Jade, who was watching the proceedings with a little smile as she sipped her hot cocoa. It was making her feel better, and the combination of the warmth of the drink and the warmth of Dave's arm around her was making her feel a good deal closer to normal already, the nightmare relegated to the back of her mind as her friends bantered back and forth.

The conversation stopped, though, when a door quietly opened and Rose stepped back into the main room. She looked haggard and worn, but a steely light of determination shone resolutely in her violet eyes.

"I have some information that might help us," she said. "I think it's time we sat down and made a plan."

* * *

_AN: This chapter started to get out of hand. The next time I write from these kids' perspectives, it's probably going to be a loooong chapter! But tonight, I just wanted to apologize for leaving you hanging for like a week, so there's that, and then I thought that this was a good place to end this chapter! c: _

_So! Gigapause is ending soon! That's really exciting, don't you think? :D :D :D I can't wait! _

_Anyway, I hope you guys are all having a great day, or a great night, whichever, and thank you so much for reading and reviewing! :D I will be once again responding to reviews via PM. In fact, just assume that from now on, because wow, I didn't expect this to get so popular but here it is! :D_

_Thanks again, guys! You're the best!_


	33. Chapter 33: Jade - Renewal

Three days passed, during which Rose went into more trances a day than Jade had ever seen her do, though she had a feeling that this was what the two months she'd been in captivity were like for John, Dave, and Rose, and their plans were modified extensively as more information became available.

Right now, Rose was asleep, exhausted after so much use of her powers. She was lying in the bed that she and Jade had come to share, while Jade sat next to her, going through the notes they'd made once again to see what she could come up with. John and Roxy had gone off somewhere into market, because Roxy admitted it was hard to conjure food just right, and Dave was in the kitchen throwing together a lunch for himself and Jade, and Rose, if she wanted to get up and eat.

So far, they'd gotten a lot accomplished. The main thing that Rose had found was that Jane and Dirk were being held in a facility not around here, but somewhere far away, in the middle of the countryside in a place in the shadow of the mountains, somewhere that would take almost a week to reach on foot and was in the middle of harsh terrain. A landship would be a lot more convenient, but there was no way they could get one of those inconspicuously. It would be too much hassle and it would be noticeable, even if Roxy could conjure up all the money they would need to purchase one. It had too many complicated parts for her to simply conjure one, the fair-haired girl had explained apologetically. And if she did get the schematics for one and made every piece, how would they put it together?

Jade sighed. It was possible that she would be able to assemble it, given her passion for robotics, but she hadn't built or coded in a long time. It wasn't worth the effort of getting Roxy to make all the hundreds if not thousands of parts that would be needed to build such a levitating craft. In her mind, walking was definitely not going to work, either. They needed to be able to make a quick getaway, because they would have two fairly important former prisoners in their hands. Walking just ... wouldn't cut it.

That left one option, the one that Rose, John, and Dave all thought was firmly out of the question. Jade needed to teleport them.

Ugh, if only her powers would come back to her! She didn't want to stay in this stupid foggy half-dead state forever! Teleporting Jake over that night when they'd all first met had taken more out of her than she'd thought it was going to, and she was more drained than ever.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to _do_," she moaned frustratedly, staring at the papers in her hands.

"Man, I _love _being the time travel guy," Dave's voice said from the door, where he cracked a lazy grin and waved indolently at her. "It means I never miss an opportunity to make a fucking perfect entrance."

"Dave?" she asked, nonplussed. "Oh, is lunch ready?"

"Nah," he shook his head, grinning that infuriating grin that said '_I know something you don't'_ all too clearly.

Well, Jade wasn't having any of that. She was hungry and a bit grumpy because she was so tired and _FUCK _ow, ow, ow, random pains, yes, those made her grumpy too, ow, ow... breathe, Harley, breathe, she told herself as the pain started to fade, slowly uncurling herself from the tight ball she always instinctively rolled into when the stabs of residual pain from exhausting her power like that came. Dave had surged forward from the doorway and was now sitting anxiously on the side of her bed, one hand on her back and the other hovering nervously.

"Jade? Fuck, I forgot how you looked when you did that, shit, you okay? Oh, damn," he muttered, shaking his head. "Don't fucking scare me like that, Harley."

"Well, _sorry_," she managed, sitting up a bit more and brushing her hair over her shoulder, a small smile forming on her face. "I didn't exactly intend to do that, you know!"

"Yeah, okay," he shrugged, bringing back the cool guy façade as that lazy grin slid back into place. "So, anyway—oof!"

"Don't you give me that face, Dave Strider," she warned, brandishing the pillow she'd just smacked him with. "What did you come in here for? You have something to tell me that does not involve lunch?"

"Oh. Pffft," he broke off into a snort. "Past me is making lunch. I'm from a good bit down the timeline. Nah, there's someone I want you to meet, and who wants to meet you. Only for a few minutes, though."

Now her curiosity was piqued. "Who?"

Dave pushed himself off the bed, twirling neatly about to offer his hand to her once he was standing. With a glance at Rose, who was still deep in sleep, Jade giggled and placed her hand in his, letting Dave pull her to her feet and lead her from the room. He didn't turn down the hall to the kitchen and main sitting area, though, instead going to one of the other bedrooms. Opening it, he revealed a young woman perched on the edge of the bed, her hands neatly folded in her lap and a small, friendy smile curling her lips. It took Jade a moment to recognize her, but when she did, she was glad Dave was right there to catch her, because the world tipped dangerously.

"_Jane?_" she gasped incredulously. "Wh... I don't understand!"

"Time travel," Dave said, steadying her on her feet before letting go.

"I'm from further down on your timeline," Jane explained. Her voice was warm, just like Jade remembered, and sweet, too. "Presently, I'm still in the prison cell. This me is from a while in the future."

"Oh," Jade said, still drinking in the fact that her beloved Nanna was sitting in front of her, oh god, Nanna, Jane, same difference really, it was her, she was here, and now Jade was pretty sure her eyes were filling with tears, and then she all but flung herself at the other girl, who let out a surprised exclamation before she wrapped her arms around her, too.

"I'll, uh, leave you to it, then," Dave said awkwardly, stepping out into the hallway to wait. Jade hardly noticed his departure, too caught up in Jane's presence.

When they finally pulled apart, Jade kneeling on the carpet in front of Jane and looking up at her with wide, shining eyes as Jane laughed softly, a slight blush creeping across her cheeks, Jane looked down at her with an expression somewhere between fondness and sadness. "I can't stay long, sadly," she said. "Dave warned me that if I did, it'll result in causal spoilers, most likely, because I'm not used to time travel and all that like he is."

"So... why did you come?" Jade asked, blinking in surprise. "Are you at least going to stay until Roxy comes back? She'll be happy to see you..."

"No! No, I can't," Jane said vehemently, shaking her head. "I ... I don't think I could face her right now, from what she's told me. At any rate, she also has no memory of me talking to her today, so... that means I can't, I think."

"Yeah, that's right," Jade said softly. "I guess... and you don't talk to anyone else, then? Just me?"

"Yes," Jane nodded. "I actually didn't come to talk to you, though."

Well, that was an awfully cryptic statement. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm here," Jane said with a knowing smile, "to _heal _you. Give me your hands." Her tone was no-nonsense, and without even thinking, Jade obeyed. Jane closed her eyes, and after a few moments, there was a misty, blue light emanating from their linked fingers that spread up Jade's arms, across her body, and—she gasped—into her magic itself, however that even _happened_, and it was fixing and healing and it was such a strange feeling, but in a good way, and... she could feel pressure building, but she didn't know what it was or what it did, and then—

It was like a switch was flipped. Her body was no longer exhausted, her magic was no longer empty. But most importantly, most amazingly, her magic no longer _hurt_. It didn't feel like a huge, awful weight, carrying the heavy burden of unnatural powers. It felt like that was normal and she had been born with it, and it was surging through her with fierce joy, and she couldn't help but throw back her head and let out a bright laugh of giddy joy, suddenly on her feet and dancing Jane about the room as the other girl laughed in surprise and happiness, too.

"Oh my god," Jade finally said, when the green haze in her vision cleared, though energy was still rushing through her and it felt _right_ and that was so, so amazing. "You—you fixed me!"

"I'm glad to see it worked," Jane answered wryly, just when Dave opened the door and poked his head in.

"Yo," he greeted. "Past me's about to finish making lunch—some kind of rad soup, if I recall—so we've gotta move, Jane."

"Thank you so much!" Jade exulted, vaguely aware that there was green magic sparking from her fingertips in her excitement but not really caring. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Jane laughed and reached over to pull her into another hug. "You're welcome. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yes!" Jade nodded, too ecstatic to really even be listening because _holy shit she felt better than fine, she had never felt this amazing in her life!_ "See you, and thank you again!"

There was a brief flash in a dark red color, vaguely shaped like a turning gear or maybe the hands of a clock, and then Dave and Jane were gone, leaving an extremely exhilarated Jade in an empty room.

Well, that wouldn't do, she was too excited to sit still alone, and Rose needed her rest, so Jade did the obvious thing to do in this situation.

She rocketed down the hallway and twirled into the kitchen and tackled Dave, who yelped and almost dropped the bowl he was carrying in surprise. "Daaaave! I love you!" she laughed brightly, letting go of him to dance around the counter.

"What the fuck," he responded, setting down the bowl carefully before he crossed his arms, looking at her. "Why aren't you in bed? Wait—" his eyes widened, having just caught sight of the green sparks and little bursts of light that followed her movements in erratic bursts. "Holy fucking _shit_, are you—"

"Better than okay!" she cheered. "Oh my gosh, Dave! I'm so... I feel so much better! I feel _wonderful_!" She bounced back around to grab his hands and lead an impromptu, clumsy waltz about the room. Her enthusiasm must have been a little bit contagious, because he grinned and scooped her up to twirl her around once before setting her on her feet again.

"That's great, Harley," he grinned at her. "But... how?"

"Future you!" she beamed, darting over to hug him again. "Future you brought future Jane, and she's a healer, you know? She did something and it worked and I feel _normal_ again!" It was exciting, she couldn't believe how amazing it felt to be comfortable in her own body and her own magic again! It had been so long since she felt this way, she'd gotten used to the pain and drudgery, but now, oh, now she felt _beautiful_!

"Oh," Dave said. "I guess I am pretty fuckin' awesome, huh?"

"The coolest!" Jade laughed, grabbing his hands again and twirling around. "Oh my gosh, I had forgotten how it feels not to hurt!"

"That's... that's really sad," he said more quietly, looking at her for a moment. Jade paused, a slight "oh," escaping her before Dave hugged her gently. "I'm glad you're feeling better," he added when he drew back, and she smiled at him brightly.

"I feel amazing," she said, bouncing on her feet. "What did you make for lunch? Soup?"

"Yeah," he nodded, shifting back to more pragmatic concerns. "Wanna go get Rose up? It's ready."

"Sure!" Jade beamed, skipping back to the bedroom, where she stopped and took a moment to breathe and calm herself down a little. She didn't want to bother Rose too much, especially if the other girl wanted to stay asleep! She certainly deserved her rest.

Jade opened the bedroom door and padded across the floor to crawl back onto the bed, gently shaking Rose's shoulder. "Hey, Rose?" she asked.

After a moment, Rose stirred, letting out a soft sigh. "Mm?" she asked noncommitally.

"Lunch is ready, if you're hungry," Jade informed her, trying to hold in her giddy excitement. "Also I'm back to normal!"

At that, Rose cracked her eyes open. "Back to normal?" she asked, raising an eyebrow just slightly.

"Yup!" Jade nodded enthusiastically. "As in, energetic, not half dead and sluggish, and guess what guess what it's even better than that! My magic is _mine_ now, not just, oh, how to describe it, painfully tacked on like it was! It's all mine, and it doesn't hurt to use it!"

Rose pushed herself into a sitting position. "How did that come about?" she inquired, stretching her arms and rolling her shoulders, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Future Dave brought future Jane back, and she had some healing spell or something, and it worked, and oh my gosh Rose I'm me again!" Jade bounced, making the mattress shake, and Rose laughed.

"I'm happy for you," she said with a fond smile. "Now, come on, let's go get lunch, shall we?"

* * *

"John," Jade said urgently, clutching at her brother's sleeve as he tossed his cloak unceremoniously to the stones they stood on, claiming that fluttery extra garments would just get in his way. He looked over to her inquisitively, taking a small step back toward her as they both surveyed the mountainous scene laid out in front of them. "Are you sure about this?"

"It's a little late to back out now, isn't it?" he scoffed, but clammed up when she just looked at him.

"I could just as easily take us back," she replied. "It's not. Are you sure about this? It's pretty stormy-looking, maybe we should just pick another day..."

"No! I'll be fine, you worry-wart," he teased, the wind ruffling his hair. Jade didn't feel very reassured. The fact that they were going looking for a terrible prison didn't make her feel any better. She didn't want to even _think _about what she might do if John was hurt. (Probably she would go ballistic and rain destruction on those who dared lay a hand on him, but... she still didn't want to think about that!)

Apparently her uncertainty showed, because he softened and came towards her, taking both of her hands in his. "Jade, I'll be fine," he repeated, looking her in the eyes seriously. "It's okay, I've done this before, to find you. Nothing went wrong then, and nothing will go wrong today."

"But..." She squeezed his hands tightly. They were warm and calloused ever so slightly from all the years of training with various kinds of staves and other tools that aided in channeling Breath, even though for some ridiculous reason he'd decided his preferred weapon was a hammer. "What if they catch you? I couldn't—if someone—I mean, you're just—" she broke off, unable to articulate the fears running through her mind.

"They won't catch me," he reassured her confidently. "Don't worry! And besides, how do you think they're going to catch _air?_"

"Oh," she said. "I guess you have a point there. But... but it's so windy today, what if you just ... get blown away?" It was at times like this that it became apparent that they really were from very different schools of magic; there were things about Breath that Jade would never understand, and the ability to diffuse into thin air was one of those. It didn't frighten her as much as it had years ago, but it still unnerved her, to know that her flesh-and-blood brother whose hands were warm and solid in hers right now could just melt away into nothing.

John laughed. "That's not how it works, silly!" he grinned, but when she didn't laugh in return, his smile faded. "Jade," he said, his voice falling a few notches in volume as he looked at her earnestly, "what are you really worried about?"

"I just... I want you to be safe," she said, plaintively looking up at his azure eyes. "Please come back to me, you _have _to come back."

"I promise I'll come back," he said immediately. "Does that make it better?"

"I don't want anything to happen to you," she added, wondering why she was feeling so upset right now.

"Nothing will happen to me," he vowed, and then dropped her hands to sweep her into his arms in a crushingly tight hug. She clung to him for a few moments, closing her eyes, and then slowly, reluctantly released him as he pulled away. "You have the note?"

John held up the paper in question, and also a cookie. "And her snack," he said with a crooked grin. "I don't know what you people see in cookies. Anyway, see you soon!" He sent her one more reassuring smile, and then, starting from his fingertips and his feet, he began to vanish into the air, his eyes closed until his head too vanished, and there was nothing left. Jade stared at the spot where he had disappeared for several long heartbeats.

"See you soon," she whispered to the breeze, gathering his discarded cloak and wrapping it around herself. It was going to be a long wait.

Overhead, thunder rumbled ominously, and she pressed herself to the cliff wall, under a small overhang, in the hopes that it would provide shelter if and when the rains started to pour. The landscape was dreary to look at, and the clouds were thick and dark, making the entire place look drab and grey and kind of frightening in a bleak, dull way. It was a nondescript, craggy valley of sorts between two mountains in a range far to the west of the Imperial City, full of sharp rocks, little vegetation, and a relentless cold wind blowing down from the glacial peaks on either side. Somewhere around here, Rose's visions predicted that there was a prison facility, the one where Dirk and Jane were being held. Jade had teleported herself John here so that he could scout it out in person, and she was just waiting here for him to come back so that they could both go back home with the confirmation of where to go. But she didn't like this one bit.

Sure, the desolate mountainside was kind of beautiful, in a sharp, harsh way. But the biting wind made her shiver and tug John's cloak and her own even more tightly around herself, wishing that she'd worn warmer boots and a thicker skirt, too. And this wasn't helping her with her dark thoughts, either. Yes, she was a lot better now after whatever Jane had done to fix her magic and her worn, drained body, but that didn't completely negate the effects her experiences had had on her mind. She still had awful nightmares and woke up with a scream rising in her throat, sometimes, and on those nights she would turn and roll over and bury her face in Rose's shoulder as the other girl sleepily held her and sang a lullaby untl they both fell asleep again. And now, being out here, _looking _for a prison of some sort where things were probably being done that were almost as awful as what she'd been through—she refused to imagine that Dirk and Jane could be going through anything worse—it just... it made her jittery and panicky and in general, upset.

The rain began to fall, cool, fat drops that splattered against the rocks. Jade curled in on herself, pulling the cloaks around like blankets, and settled in to wait.

* * *

Jane buried her face in her hands. Today, like every other day—was time even passing down here? She was starting to wonder about that—she was bored out of her mind, when she wasn't sobbing or wondering what to do with herself. Spending way too much time alone seemed to have that effect on her.

She had had more nightmares last night, or whatever the appropriate term for when she'd been sleeping was, and they were just _awful_. She couldn't stand her mind for coming up with such terrible things to think about Dirk, oh... oh god, Dirk, he was gone. That was still sinking in, and every time she thought of it, she wanted to start sobbing again. It wasn't a concept she could get used to quickly, the finality of him being dead as he most likely was. Every time she wasn't actively thinking about it, there was just an assumption that popped up in the back of her mind, thinking that "Oh, I'll see Dirk sometime, maybe when Scratch pulls us out next time", or "I'll see him when we get home". Those thoughts were wrong, wrong, wrong, especially the second one! She ... she could never go home.

She was going to be stuck in ths awful place forever, and ever, and always. Until the end of her days.

Maybe if she died, she could at least see Dirk again, and tell him how sorry she was?

Once again, the memory of that awful day flashed through her mind, the violent fuchsia lightening that siphoned the life out of everything it touched, leaving a lifeless husk of a body to collapse to the floor, already dead, the screams of the men it had claimed, those awful, horrible _screams_, screams of pure agony and terror like she'd never heard before, the sound of the painful cracks of the whip across Dirk's unprotected flesh, of the terrible _crunch _when she could just tell that a kick had broken a rib, of his cries of pain that grew softer and yet more agonized until they faded from her ears as she was dragged away.

She didn't want to think of it, she didn't want to think of that she didn't want it she didn't she didn't she didn't!

A gentle gust of wind startled her from her thoughts. There was never any moving air down here, it was always stuffy and dank and it made her claustrophobic. Curious, Jane looked up...

...and saw one of the strangest things she'd seen in her life. In front of her, the air was swirling and coalescing into the shape of a boy, dressed in blue and holding a note and a cookie.

"Hi!" he said. "You're Jane, right?"

"Yes," she nodded uncertainly. Why did he look so familiar? It was almost like he looked like Poppop... "Who are you? Did Scratch send you?"

"What? No!" he shook his head vigorously. "Man, fuck that guy. He's the one who's holding you captive, right? Fuck him."

"I would rather not," Jane said, startled and not really thinking of what she was saying until the boy looked at her with a surprised laugh.

"Yeah, on second thought, that would be weird. Anyway! These are for you," he handed her the note and cookie. "From Jake and Roxy, with love." He looked around, as if realizing something for the first time. "Oh, hey... is Dirk around here somewhere?"

Jane could scarcely believe what she was hearing. "Jake and Roxy?" she breathed. "You mean..."

"Yup," he grinned at her. "We're gonna bring you home soon. Oh, yeah, here's a lighter," he dug it out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "So you can burn the letter after you read it, so that there's no evidence of us or anything."

"Who... who _are _you?" Jane asked again, catching the lighter just barely. Her mind was spinning. Jake and Roxy, Jake and Roxy, oh god, she could go _home._ For the first time in days, weeks, whatever, who knew how long it had been, Jane started to feel hope again.

He looked surprised. "Oh, uh, my name's John! And I'm kind of your grandfather. But that's a long story for another day. I would love to stay and everything, but... I gotta find Dirk and then get out of here so we can all figure out how to get you out of here! Do you know where they have him?"

"Wait, wait wait. What?" Jane blinked. "My grandfather is dead, silly." Vaguely, she registered that he'd asked about Dirk, too, but she didn't want to think about that, she didn't!

"It's a long story," John repeated. "I guess you don't know where Dirk is, then. It was nice meeting you, Jane! I guess I'll be—"

"Dirk's dead," Jane said hollowly, sitting down on the cot. John stopped in midair.

"_What?_" he gasped. Jane nodded.

"I'm pretty sure of it. They... they beat him really badly and they dragged me away so I never saw the end of it, but there's almost no way he could have survived," she swallowed hard, trying to subtly wipe at her eyes.

"Almost no way is better than no way," John said resolutely. "I'm going to look for him anyway. I'll... I'll see you soon, 'kay?" Without waiting for a response, he began to diffuse into the air again, vanishing completely.

"Wait!" Jane cried, desperate for company, even if it was from a strange boy that she almost knew but didn't. But he was gone. Sighing and trying not to cry again, she looked at the paper in her hands, unfolding it with a little difficulty, holding a cookie in the other hand. Absently, she took a bite of it as she began to read.

_Dear Janey and Dirky,_

_oh my god i hope ur okay, i really, really do! ive missed u so much and i love u a lot and i hope ur both doing fine and youll be reading this sitting on a cozy sofa as a honored political prisoner or something and youll laugh and say "Oh, Roxy, she's crazy to be worrying like that" and keep eating some fancy grapes or whatever people who are honored political prisoners eat. but from what we've heard—we being me and jake—that's probably not true, and i am really, really worried._

_but this note isnt about me, and its not just saying hi or anything either! uh, i dont know how exactly john delivered it, or whether you even saw him, but omg! i cant even write this im so excited!_

_Hi Jane, hi dirk, this is jake writing now! You both arent going to believe this but golly its actually true! We all have dead family members right, but some of them are here now and they arent dead! Theyre not exactly our same family members—its a really long story involving parallel universes or something cool like that—but your brother, dirk, and your grandfather, jane, are both alive! Theyre our age, which is kind of weird, hanging out with my teenage grandma and all, but its pretty awesome! John, who delivered this note, is janes grandpa! How cool is that?_

_aaaand its back to me writing! anyway u two, we're getting u out of there, ok? at some point in the next day or two. just be on the lookout for one of us or maybe jade dave john or rose (our not dead family!) if we end up sending one of them after u. we have to figure this part out, john's doing recon stuff right now and we thought itd be a good opportunity to give u a note! and also i included a cookie i made with ur recipe janey, so enjoy! and youll be home soon, i promise. _

_with lots of love, Jake and Roxy_

She was crying now, but these were happy, happy tears. As she read the words again, and again, she couldn't stop smiling, because the seed of hope planted in her heart had been watered with warmth, and it was growing. Sure, a lot might go wrong, and things might not go according to plan, but she couldn't bring herself to fret that much about that. Her mind was too starved for joy, and now it was drinking it in. Jane was going home.

* * *

_AN: Does it count as being on a roll if I post it at almost midnight? I think it should. Technically it's still within 24 hours of when I last posted. xD_

_Well, well! Things are finally happening, people are doing things, and in general more action is coming! This is exciting. :D_

_Thanks for reading, and thanks even more for reviewing! You guys are amazing and I hope you all have a great day/night/whatever! c:_


	34. Chapter 34: B r e a k o u t

Roxy sighed, tapping her foot a bit impatiently. She really was bad at this whole "waiting" thing, wasn't she? John and Jade had barely been gone for two hours, and she was already anxiously awaiting their return. She had really liked the idea of just going in and teleporting them both out, but John had frowned and said that it would be a better idea to scout out the place first. She had nodded reluctantly, because as much as she wanted her friends home, she understood that he didn't want to put his little sister in harm's way any more than she had to be, even now that she wasn't drained and exhausted anymore. One day, she would have to get the full story from them on exactly why Jade had woken up with nightmares and started sobbing about her magic, too. She still didn't really know too much about that. But at least the other girl was doing better, now. Roxy just wanted to bring Jane and Dirk home! That was all she wanted.

"Don't fret so much," Jake reached over to pat her hand. "They'll be back in no time!"

"I _know_, but I don't want to have to wait! I want to get in there and get Dirk and Jane and come home. We can't let them sit any longer, it's been a month already!" she said frustratedly.

"We have to be rational and come up with a plan," Rose said calmly, looking up from her knitting as she sat in the corner of the couch. "Our first priority is not to get anyone else captured."

Roxy nodded, disgruntled. "I know, but still! They've gotta come home soon. I'm not leaving there a second longer than they have to be."

"No one said to do that," Rose replied. "All I'm asking is for you to think before you act. I know you're afraid for them and you feel guilty for not being able to stop this from happening. Believe me, I _know _how you feel." Roxy opened her mouth to protest—no, no you don't—but Rose continued, so she didn't say a word. "But it would be worse if you got captured, too, or someone else. You couldn't help Dirk and Jane from inside a cell with them, and I'm sure you don't want Jake or any of us to end up there, either, do you?"

"No," Roxy admitted, defeatedly slumping against the back of the couch. "But I don't want to let them suffer any more than they have already, now that we know where they are. It's ... it's my fault that they—"

"Oh, not this again!" Jake complained. "How many times must I tell you before you believe me? It was not your fault, it was the soldiers, you didn't put them in there any more than Jane stabbed me that time!"

"Wait, what? Sounds like a story I want to hear," Dave snickered, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

Roxy threw a pillow at him. "Not funny! Jake nearly died!" she scolded. "It was when the Mages' College got a tip-off that Jane has healing magic—Life, you said it was called? Something like that—and they tried to take her away, but she couldn't do it because she didn't know how to channel it under stress, and they thought that stabbing Jake and letting him bleed out in front of her would provide incentive, but it backfired and made it worse. So they figured their tip-off was wrong and she wasn't magical and left, and then she healed him, but it was terrifying."

"But was that Jane's fault?" Jake persisted.

"No," Roxy shook her head. "Of course not! Janey didn't do that."

"Then how is this whole situation _your _fault?" he pressed, crossing his arms triumphantly.

"That—it's different!" Roxy exclaimed. "If I had just—"

"No," Jake interrupted. "Jane was the one being careless and going around in the dark districts. You were a victim of circumstance."

"But—"

"No," Jake asserted. "It isn't your fault, Roxy!" He held up one hand as if to preemptively stall whatever protest she might make, turning to Rose. "How do I do the Hopey thing so that she'll listen to me, Rose? ... Goodness, I always want to call you Ms. Lalonde."

"Please don't; I would think you were referring to my mother, and she's sitting right there," Rose said with a tinkling laugh. "Honestly, the will to execute Hope spells comes from within. Hope has always been one of the more inscrutable aspects, because it is chiefly governed by belief of the spellcaster. So you have to completely believe what you say, and you can make it true if you will it to be true."

"Gotcha!" Jake grinned. "Thank you, let me try that again."

"Are we just going to pretend I wasn't sitting here to hear that whole exchange about you going Hopey on me, or what?" Roxy asked, unable to hide her amusement and finding it easier to laugh than to reveal just how upset Dirk and Jane's disappearance still made her.

"Yup!" Jake said cheerily, giving her a bright grin and a wink. "But don't divert me from my goal!" He thought for a moment, then cleared his throat and shifted closer on the couch so that he could take her hand. "Roxy," he started earnestly, "what happened at the Grand Square was _not your fault_, and no one holds it against you. You shouldn't hold it against yourself, either."

That same warm, golden feeling that she vaguely recalled from the night of the massacre itself, when she'd blearily wandered up to Jake's apartment, concussion and all, and he'd held her as she cried and told her these same words, that feeling welled up again, all warm and fuzzy and soothing, and suddenly she found herself agreeing. Things had gone wrong, but she hadn't made them go wrong. She had been at the wrong place at the right time, but she couldn't be held accountable for that.

"Holy shit," she said after a moment, realizing that he had just dispelled her inner demons again. "Oh my _god. _Jake, I don't know what you just did, but it worked. That's... kinda scary, you know!"

Jake grinned proudly. "I knew it wasn't your fault."

"John and Jade's grandpa used to do stuff like that all the time," Dave commented. "It was hilarious. One time John fell out of a tree and scraped his legs up pretty bad, started bawling up a storm. Gramps just walked over and picked him up and said, 'You're a tough boy. You can handle this, now let your Nanna patch you up,' and I shit you not, that kid stopped crying right then and there, picked himself up and walked into the house to find her, and that was that."

"Hope can be a bit intimidating," Rose agreed thoughtfully. "It deals with manipulation of belief. Hope, Heart, Blood, Mind... some schools of magic deal with manipulation of thoughts, and that can be a very frightening thing indeed."

"That's almost funny," Roxy noted. "Now Dirk's the only one of us who doesn't have magic!" she snorted. "He's just going to _love _that."

Before anyone could respond, there was a flash of bright green, and Jade and John were standing in the center of the sitting area.

"We found them," John said breathlessly, both of them hurrying to join the group on the couches. It was almost a tight squeeze, six people on two couches, but they made it work. "Jade's going to have to go get Dirk, though. He'll have to be teleported out, oh man... he's in really bad shape. And Jane has to get to him soon, or else..."

He trailed off, and Roxy bit her lip, horror rising in her. "What did they _do _to him?" she whispered, clutching Jake's hand for support. He too seemed upset, and squeezed her fingers back, providing a small measure of comfort that seemed largely inadequate.

"I don't know exactly, but... a bunch of lashes, open wounds, and broken bones. And from what I could tell, a fever from some infection, too. He ... he didn't look good." Roxy felt her heart sink as the room spun for a moment. Oh god oh god oh god, Dirk... no, she told herself. Stay calm, and you're going to get him out.

Jade bit her lip. "If I'm going after Dirk, you," she nodded to Roxy, "should go after Jane. We'll need to set a rendezvous point so that I can get everyone out together. Oh, John, where's the holomap you made?"

"Oh! Right!" John lit up, remembering something, and fished a hologram projector out of his pockets. "I recorded what I could of their compound, or at least the parts that were pertinent to us. Here we go," he flicked it on and set it on the table. A holographic projection rose out of it, showing a three-dimensional building with several passageways, including some underground ones.

"Dirk is in this side of the building," Jade pointed to a little hallway, deep underground. "His cell is along the wall here. I can go get him without too much fuss, but there's guards posted outside his door, and they'll notice when he vanishes—or when I come in, for that matter—so we'll need a distraction in this courtyard that would probably draw them out, or else they'll know something's up."

"You and me can be the distraction, Harley," Dave suggested, sitting up and leaning forward, his arms resting on his knees as he examined the map with a keen eye. "You know how I fight, I know how you fight, and Space and Time are a pretty damn rare duo, even here. I'm pretty sure that we could make it look like we're attacking the compound in general, get all the guards to run to the courtyard. Actually, we should set up some time loops," he paused, considering. "How much do we have to worry about your energy levels and teleporting people?"

"Teleporting people is easy. Consider its impact negligible," Jade replied. "What are you thinking of?"

He gave her a slightly surprised look, then flashed a grin at her before his face resumed a serious expression. "Okay, so Rose and I were talking about this earlier. If we establish some time loops here, then we can make our lives a hell of a lot easier. So getting Dirk and Jane out is top priority, but from what Egbert's map says, both of their cells are kind of under guard. Jane's is less so, from what I can see, with the fuckers only posted at the ends of the hall instead of at the door. Jade, you can teleport right into the cell right?"

"Yup!" the girl nodded and gave him a thumbs-up, enthusiasm making green sparks fly from her fingers for a moment. Roxy let out something between a giggle and snort. It was really cute the way Jade literally sparkled with her eagerness sometimes, and it also made her glad to see how much more lively and happy the other girl was now that her powers were back. She hadn't explained exactly what happened, only apologetically saying "I'll tell you later; causal spoilers" and glancing at Dave, who had shrugged as if to say "I didn't do it... yet". Roxy didn't mind not knowing, though. She of all people knew that even with those you trust, there were still some things better left unsaid.

"Good," Dave was continuing. "So from the objective perspective, we have to set off the distraction first, then get Dirk, and finally Jane. But _our _priorities aren't in that order. 'Sides, Jade, John, and I could make a hell of a distraction for them, but we'd need Jade to be there too, with all her flashy space powers."

"Wait a minute," Jade was frowning a little, sitting back in her seat and shifting closer to Rose, who looked sharply over at Dave before she slid an arm around Jade's waist and murmured something to her. "Are you... I'm the bait?"

Dave looked at her apologetically. "Uh, I mean... not really, and besides, they don't stand a chance of catching you, and—"

"Dave," Rose cut him off with a stern look before she turned back to Jade, softening slightly. "I know you don't like the idea, I know. But we'll all be there with you, and if those pieces of filth think they can lay a hand on you before _I_ get my hands on _them_, they are sadly mistaken. They're going to think you're a weak, flashy Space mage, and we're going to have a nice little _surprise_ in store to let them know what happens when they try to hurt people we love. Perhaps I will curse them to the fifth plane of the void, or perhaps I will merely summon a demon from the blackest of oblivion to eternally torment them. Either way, they will rue the day they tried to hurt you."

There was a dead silence for a moment. Rose was still sitting serenely, but her voice was hard as steel and cold as ice. Roxy wondered if this was what she'd been like when planning the revolution years ago—well, not this Rose, but her own mother—oh, fuck this whole alternate universe double mom thing.

"Holy shit," Dave said under his breath, giving his cousin a wary look as he finally broke the silence.

"... Oh my," Jake added, looking at Rose a bit anxiously. "Has ... has anyone ever told you that you have the aptitude to be positively _terrifying_?"

"Once or twice," Rose shrugged with an attempt at demure smile that was definitely too close to laughter.

"You mean like _every day _in the first five years of school," John corrected, grinning as he nudged her shoulder. Roxy gave him an incredulous look. Was he seriously not at all freaked out by all the talk of curses and stuff?

"Once or twice, daily," she laughed then, a merry sound, and the residual tension drained out of everyone, including Jade, who rested her head against Rose's shoulder.

"Okay," she said, bringing the conversation back to their serious plans. "I can do it. I think. But... I don't want any of you getting hurt."

"Same goes for you!" Roxy told her before she could start a self-sacrificing narrative here. They didn't need any of that, thank you very much! "Everyone here is gonna come back fine, plus two more. Got it?" She looked around the room. Everyone met her eyes and nodded, one by one.

She settled back against her cushions with a satisfied grin, interlacing her fingers in her lap before nodding at Dave to continue. "Good. Now, what were you talking about, Davey?"

"First of all, don't fucking call me Davey," Dave grumbled. "Anyway, the distraction will take the longest. So what we'll need to do is have Jade pop in and grab Jane first, and then either bring her back here or take her along when she grabs Dirk. Either way, both of them will come back to this place, and then Jade and I will go back to the beginning and instigate the diversion. John and I will be there from the beginning, linearly."

"Wait, what?" Jake asked. Roxy wasn't too sure either. Time travel was something she'd only read about in fables before meeting Dave, and she was still trying to wrap her mind around it. Had Dirk's brother had the ability? She'd had no idea, if he had. Maybe he had just kept it very under wraps and secret, or something.

Dave sighed. "It means you don't have to worry about a thing, Gramps. The less people who go in, the better. The four of us," he gestured between himself, Rose, John, and Jade, "already have experience fighting and using magic, and doing both of those things as a team. You'll just get in the way. So you and Roxy can stay here, and we'll bring Dirk and Jane back."

"But I want to help!" Jake protested immediately, but Roxy leaned over and placed a hand on his arm.

"Jake. He's right," she said. "We _don't _know what we're doing. If we did, this wouldn't have happened. It's okay. We can help by being here for Dirk and Jane and helping them, okay?" She wasn't too happy with it, but she understood the reasoning. Sometimes you had to give up what you wanted in order to make things work out as a whole, or to help other people you love. That was just how life worked.

After a moment of conflicting thoughts, Jake sighed. "Fine. When do we—when do you plan to commence?"

"Tonight," Rose said. "At about four hours past midnight. It'll be about one past midnight for them, so we will have the cover of darkness as our advantage."

"Okay," Roxy nodded. "Jake, you and I can get one of the rooms prepped with bandages and clean water and all that stuff. Jane might need it for... for Dirk."

Her friend brightened a bit at the suggestion of something he could be doing to help, though he didin't seem too happy at the thought of Dirk in whatever awful condition he was in, and Roxy smiled a little reassuring smile at him, standing and holding out her hand to him. It felt strangely normal again, just a bit, to have a purpose as she walked hand in hand with Jake, and impulsively she hugged him in the middle of the hallway. Surprised but not unhappily so, he hugged her back, and seeming to think she was worried, he rested his cheek against her temple. "Don't worry," he murmured gently. "It'll be okay."

The golden warmth suffused her ever so slightly once again, washing away any doubts she might have had. "I know," she said, and smiled.

Behind them, the four from the other universe were finalizing everything else they had to finalize about their plans and preparing to go to sleep, as they would need it to get up so early. Roxy closed her eyes in concentration as they entered the third bedroom, this one also unused, and began to imagine the shape, contours, and texture of linen bandages, of bottles of disinfectant, of jars of medicines. It would be a long night of waiting.

* * *

Rose slid down the couch, tired, and leaned her head against Jade's shoulder and weighed her options. John and Dave had already gone to bed, but she and Jade were both still on the couches in the sitting area where the four of them had been discussing plans late into the night, conjecturing about what could go wrong and laying all sorts of backup options in place. After all, despite all her efforts, Rose still remained eluded by the nature of Lord English. It had been difficult enough to find a location. She didn't really know what they were going to find upon going in. To a seer, that uncertainty was something unnerving enough on its own, but to a seer who had almost everything banking on what she saw? It was maddening.

So here lay her dilemma. Did she go to sleep and conserve her strength, and trust in Light's luck to provide for them tomorrow, or did she attempt another trance and make herself exhausted before they even went into battle, for a battle it was going to be, in the hope that she could find out something that might potentially save a life, or at least a good deal of worry and hassle?

Jade looked over to her with a little bit of concern. "Rose, you should rest," she urged. "You look exhausted!"

"I _am _exhausted," Rose huffed a laugh as she pushed her silky hair behind her ear. "But there's something bothering me, and I might need to look for it."

"Look for it? As in, with another trance?" the smaller girl asked. Rose nodded in affirmation, and Jade pressed her lips together in disapproval. "We're already only going to get five hours of sleep, tops," she reminded. "And you've been trancing so much! What's the something bothering you, anyway?"

"A niggling doubt, shall we say," Rose sighed, lifting her head from Jade's shoulder to sit up so that she could meet the other girl's gaze as they spoke. It was good, at least, that Jade didn't brush off her concerns completely. That would make communicating this just that much more difficult, and as a Light mage, Rose did detest the obstruction of the passage of knowledge.

"Doubt about what?" Jade pressed, her head tilted slightly to the side inquisitively and her bright green eyes a little widened in concern.

"Why exactly it's been so difficult to pinpoint anything about this place," Rose answered pensively. "It's strange. It's almost like it was made just to elude seers, or maybe just me. Quite maddening, really."

Jade stiffened in alarm, shrinking in on herself just a little. "Made to elude seers? But that would mean they know we're coming, or that we were looking for them, at least! What if it's a trap?"

Rose placed a hand on her back placatingly, wanting the other girl, already so emotionally scarred, to remain calm and not become unduly upset. "Shh, no, you're jumping to conclusions. I don't think it was actually made to elude me in particular, though there might be enchantments that aid the place in remaining hidden, in general. I was just expressing my exasperation with the lack of information that I have gleaned, compared to how much I can learn from looking for almost anything else."

"Oh," Jade said, relaxing again and resting her head against Rose's shoulder. Rose leaned her head over too, so that her cheek was against her friend's messy curls, and smiled softly, closing her eyes. Two long years of running had taught her to enjoy the quiet moments, to allow herself to relax and _breathe _in the silence, and to slow down and relish the calm between the storms. So for a few moments, she sat silently, one arm draped around Jade's shoulders, and closed her eyes and thought about the feeling of the smaller girl's hair against her skin, of the way her hand was ever so slightly uncomfortable in its position holding Jade's shoulder, of the warmth that they were both sharing. It was peaceful. "I can't say for certain," she murmured after a few moments, as Jade shifted slightly in her arms, "but I think tomorrow will go well."

"I hope so," Jade replied quietly, pressing herself closer in a way that wordlessly indicated that she wanted reassurance. Rose responded by wrapping her other arm loosely around her and hugging her close, gently stroking her shoulder.

"Nothing will happen to any of us," she promised. "Dave might have said that our first priority is getting Dirk and Jane out safely, but he was wrong. The first priority is keeping anyone else from being hurt or captured, and keeping Dirk and Jane alive. Getting them out is the second. If we have to fall back, we'll fall back." Unsaid was _unlike the mistake we made last time._ Rose wasn't callous enough to say that, unlike Dave. Jade already knew. That night, when she'd been captured saving them all, was already weighing heavily on her mind. Rose didn't need to make the risk that they were taking, or the connection to those memories, any more apparent. She had to keep Jade from falling back into her blackest memories.

Dark, black memories hurt. They took you and twisted and warped you to the very core, made you want to scream and cry and rip your hair out and lash out at the world with curses and seek revenge if you could ever stop weeping. Rose had fallen into that pit when her mother was killed. And she would be damned if she let Jade fall now.

"Okay," Jade nodded, a small movement, but it was a positive one, and Rose pressed a little kiss into her hair.

"We'll be okay," she smiled gently. "I know you don't feel it right now, but you are strong. You are possibly the most powerful mage on this planet. And that doesn't mean you have to be perfect right now, but just hold onto that, and remember it whenever your mind threatens you with things you don't want to go through again. You will _never _fall into their hands again. I promise you that."

"I don't want—I don't want you or John or Dave to, either," Jade admitted, her voice cracking for a moment as she laid bare her greatest fear. Rose smoothed her hair gently before clasping her arms around her again.

"We won't," she said. "We will be smart, we won't overestimate ourselves. And if something goes wrong, we'll get out of there."

"I'll be all over the place," the smaller girl said. "How will I be able to get you out if I'm busy keeping up with Dave's time loops?"

"Dave can keep up with Dave's time loops," Rose replied. "Don't worry about those. In a way, timelines are set in stone. If we're going to have to cut our losses and flee, then the time loops will already be established in agreement with that. If we're going to succeed, then they will be established in agreement with our success."

"Oh," Jade said, letting out a little laugh. "I guess I never will fully understand time loops or whatever."

"Well, Dave never knows what you mean when you talk about warped space, so I think you're even," Rose reminded her sardonically, and Jade laughed, a real laugh this time.

After a few moments, she shifted to look up at Rose. "Can we cuddle tonight?" she asked plaintively, and without thinking, Rose nodded.

"Of course," she said with a smile. "We should go to bed now, speaking of that. The boys are already asleep, and we do have to be up early."

Jade nodded, heaving a little sigh and lingering a moment before she picked herself up and allowed Rose to stand. They walked to the bedroom hand in hand, curling up together under the covers. And when Jade finally fell asleep, Rose found herself still awake, holding the girl who was pretty much her sister and thinking about what would be happening in a few hours' time.

"We will keep you safe," she told her sleeping companion. "And we will all come out of this and we will find ourselves a way to be happy. I promise."

* * *

"Hey," John's voice cut through her slumber, and Jade blearily opened her eyes, blinking in the blackness to see him hovering above her and Rose, still tangled together under the blankets.

"Is it time to go already?" Jade asked sleepily, not wanting to relinquish the warmth of the bed and of Rose's arms around her comfortingly.

"Yup," he nodded. "Come on, up you get."

"Do I have to?" she sighed, asking the question rhetorically as she extricated her arms from around Rose to push herself into a sitting position, turning to gently shake Rose's shoulder. "Hey, Rose, wake up. It's time."

Rose's eyes fluttered open as she let out a breath. "Okay."

John held out his hands, and after she grabbed her glasses from the nightstand, Jade placed hers hands in his, smiling slightly in the gloom. She knew what he was about to do, because he'd gotten her out of bed at home like this sometimes—yup, just like she'd known he would, he tugged her out of the bed with the help of a gust of wind that propelled them both into the air for a second. She laughed as he caught her and twirled her about before setting her on the ground with a flourish and a silly grin, and set her hands on his shoulders to hold him steady so that she could kiss his cheek affectionately.

"Thanks, John," Rose said behind them as she pulled the blanket off her head and walked to the door. "A windy blanket to the face is just what I always fantasize about waking up to."

"Sorry," John said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, and Jade laughed as the two of them started to follow Rose out of the room, looking up at him with a fond little smile. It was always the silly, kind of unremarkable times that reminded her just how much she loved her brother, like now, and she spontaneously flung her arms around his waist and hugged him close, standing in the doorway. John looked down at her with surprise, but wrapped his arms around her in response, holding her tightly. More tightly than usual, and ... for longer than usual, too. Was he worried?

"It'll be okay," she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder. She wasn't really sure what the "it" she was talking about was—the operation they were going to pull off, maybe, or herself, or Nanna/Jane and Dirk—but she wanted to soothe him, and he pressed her closer in response.

"I know," he said, finally releasing her and looking down at her like he was drinking in every detail. Well, to be fair, she was probably doing the same type of desperate scrutiny to him, because no matter how much she told her thoughts to go away and stop it, they were still whispering doubtfully that this might be the last time they see each other, or what if something goes wrong, or—no! Stop thinking that! "But maybe," he continued, and Jade pulled herself out of her thoughts, "I just wanted to hear you say it."

She smiled at him, brightly, and nodded sharply. "Yup! It's gonna be okay, John," she said with a confidence she didn't fully feel, but dammit she was going to put on a smile for him!

"Of course it's gonna be okay," he said, rolling his eyes but grinning back down at her. "We're gonna rock this. Now come on, Jade, I'm pretty sure breakfast is ready!"

He took her hand and they both walked to the kitchen, where Dave and Rose were already waiting, eating bread and jam and fruit. After making her plate, Jade hoisted herself up onto the counter next to Rose, swinging her legs back and forth as she licked sticky sweet jam from her fingers. They didn't really talk much, the solemnity of the occasion weighing on everyone's mind too heavily for levity to pervade their breakfast in the dim light, kept low to keep from disturbing Jake and Roxy's sleep.

When they'd finished eating and washed their dishes, all four of them exchanged glances, no one wanting to be the first to get up and lead them all out into a battle, a dangerous battle that could lead to someone being hurt badly. Jade couldn't deny that her core was a mess of anxiety and nerves and worry; this was ... well, this was the first time _she _was going on any sort of offensive mission. John, Dave, and Rose had done it once before, for her. And she couldn't deny that she was scared, at least a little, of going toward a place where they held prisoners, even though she knew this wasn't the Space and Time Academy or even this universe's Mages' College. They probably weren't experimenting on them or anything awful like that, but the concept still made her a bit uncomfortable, a bit frightened. She didn't want to go back to anywhere like that.

And despite all the reassurance she'd received, she was still worried that something might go wrong. She _knew _what she would do if it happened, if someone was captured—there would be a green sun blazing and burning as she rained destruction on everyone who dared harm a hair on her brother's head, or on Rose's or Dave's. But the idea still upset her, and she didn't want to think about it.

Finally, John stood. "Come on, guys. The night's not getting any younger," he said, leading them toward the sitting room, where all their weapons and gear were still lying by the couches.

To their surprise Jake was sitting there, Roxy asleep on his shoulder.

"What are you doing awake?" Jade asked him, surprised.

"I wanted to wish you good luck," he answered, giving her a small grin. "Roxy wanted to, as well, but ..."

"Let her sleep," Rose said hurriedly. "She'll need the rest soon enough."

"That was my intention, as well," Jake nodded before turning his attention back to Jade. "I also wanted to say... well, shucks! I am so very glad that I got to see you again," he told her. Touched, Jade smiled softly, coming forward a few steps to give him a loose, one-armed hug, leaning down a little awkwardly so that neither of them jostled Roxy.

"I'm glad, too," she said as she stepped away. "But this isn't a goodbye, really! We'll be back before you know it!"

"Oh, I know, I'm just a bit nervous," Jake said with a nervous laugh. "So, in case anything happens, I just wanted you to know that, well, even though you and I haven't personally known each other that long, I have known you all my life, and you are one of the people who means the most to me in the world, and I have been absolutely thrilled to be able to spend the past few days with you again. I hope you come back safely, Jade," he ended with a warm smile, and Jade felt a fluttery warmth that she hadn't felt in _years_. It was just like Grampa's Hope, and she felt tears of joy spring to her eyes before she hurriedly dashed them away.

"I ..." she started, and then leaned forward to hug him again. "I'm happy, too, and I love you too. We'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay," he said. "Okay. I know you'll do amazingly!"

Jade smiled at him again before rejoining her quartet, looking at them all one by one and once again memorizing their faces in their last few moments of peace before she finally picked up her laser rifle and slung it over her shoulder.

"Ready?" she asked, holding out her hands. John took her right, and Rose took her left, and Dave held on to John. Jade closed her eyes and imagined the rocky overhang where she had sat in the rain while John scouted around, and willed them to _be _there.

The world went green, brilliantly vibrant in its intensity, and Jade concentrated on the feel of every little atom in the continuum between places. The green began to fade back into the contours of the dark mountainside, and the four of them felt solid ground under their feet again as the landscape formed, a starry sky glistening above and the same cold, blustery wind tearing across the slopes, the rock hard and dark against the distant sky. Below them was the compound, walled with a grand mansion sprawling around several courtyards. Part of it was actually a mansion, but several of those courtyards were used for prisoners instead. Jade felt her skin prickle uneasily, remembering how something as simple as a few seconds of sunlight and fresh air could be used as bait, dangled in front of one's face and snatched away as punishment.

As they watched, a green flash, the same color as Jade's magic, illuminated the compound, obliterating part of the walls on the south side.

"That's the diversion," Dave said. "And that's your cue, Harley. Go get 'em." He looked over at her and reached over to squeeze her hand. "You can do this."

Jade took a deep breath and let it out. "I can do this," she repeated. "Okay. Here I go." She slowly, reluctantly let go of Dave's fingers, but before she could begin to teleport herself, Rose stopped her.

"Wait," she said. "Let me give you a hand. It's a silence and secrecy charm." She raised her hands, and a soft lavender light enveloped her fingertips as she reached out to place them on Jade's temples. After a moment, she stepped away and nodded. "That should make you harder to notice. Good luck."

"Thanks," Jade said, and before she could lose her nerve se closed her eyes again, this time visualizing the location of Jane's cell. When she appeared with another green flash, she saw Jane jump in shock.

John ... hadn't exactly mentioned how haunted the other girl looked. That was Jade's first thought. Her heart went out to Jane, locked up and alone with her fears and uncertainty and pain. Jade knew those feelings. She knew them far too well. But... at least, she thought, Jane looked a lot better than she herself had when John, Dave, and Rose had broken her out. Sure, Jane needed a long, hot bath, a good deal of more food, and lots of comfort, but at least she wasn't unable to walk and a sobbing mess who could barely stay awake. That was at least a little bit comforting.

"Hi, Jane!" she greeted, forcing cheer into her voice. "I'm Jade. My brother John came to see you a little while ago. Come with me! I'm taking you home."

"H... home?" Jane asked, her blue eyes wide and starting to fill with tears. She would need some new glasses, too, Jade noted. The ones she was wearing were cracked on one lens and both were pretty badly scratched.

"Yes, home," Jade repeated, holding out her hand. "I'll take you to Jake and Roxy. Come here?"

Jane looked like she could scarcely believe it. "Oh my god. Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming," she said, taking a step forward. "Can you wake me up? These dreams always hurt the most, because they give me hope and then remind me that I have none. If I wake up earlier in the dream maybe it won't hurt that much. Am I dreaming? Oh, gosh, I'm babbling—"

"Jane," Jade laughed softly. "You're not dreaming." She ached for the other girl, knew just what she was thinking, that after hell there couldn't possibly be anything joyous. But with Jane in this state, she would have to alter her plans slightly, and take Jane back to the Imperial City before she got Dirk. Well, that wasn't a problem; she had easily enough strength for that jump about a billion more times, or so. Her power was barely diminished at all. The only thing that would take a significant chunk out of that, apparently, was manipulating the universe itself.

Jane took her hand. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, oh..." she said, her voice wobbly. "I... oh my god, I'm going home—"

"This can be a little disorienting," Jade warned. "Here we go!" She imagined the sitting room again, its soft lighting and cushions strewn everywhere and the two couches arranged in one end with the coffee table, and Roxy's decorative panels that served as false windows, and jumped.

"Janey!" was the first thing she heard upon landing, and Jane looked up immediately before she was all but tackled by Roxy.

It was good to see their happy reunion, but Jade had another prisoner to rescue. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she said. "Is the other bedroom ready?"

Roxy looked up, still clutching Jane to her as Jake held them both. "Yeah, it's ready," she said.

"You mean—Dirk?" Jane asked, her eyes growing impossibly wide. "He's—he's alive?"

Jade didn't wait around to see Jake and Roxy's replies, instead throwing herself back into the empty continuum between spaces and emerging in Dirk's cell. She didn't want to alert the guards with a green flash, so hurriedly as the world began to melt back into existence, she reached out and snagged all the photons that would have emanated from her, and raised their wavelength, so that she let out a short burst of infrared radiation instead of visible light.

Dirk was lying slumped on the floor in front of her, his hands and feet shackled to the wall. The floor was filthy, probably with blood and other bodily fluids and dirt and mud, from prisoners who had possibly died in here before Dirk, and she grimaced in disgust as she knelt next to him. As soon as her fingers brushed his forehead it became painfully obvious that he was running a raging fever, and she winced as her eyes traveled down his body. That was an awfully large number of welts on his back and sides, ripped through his thin shirt by what looked like a whip, and he was covered in bruises. At least two or three of his ribs looked to be broken, from what she could tell, and there were gashes liberally slashed across his body.

He moaned softly, his eyelids fluttering weakly for a moment, when she carefully shifted his arm so that she could more easily access the cuff on his wrist. Silence was paramount, even though the guards outside his door might have left—the door was solid save for a grate that could be slid back from outside, which was why she hadn't wanted to risk being seen with light, and she didn't know if they were gone or if they had received orders to stand guard on this prisoner no matter what was going on outside. It wasn't worth risking it, though, so she was going to have to be creative with getting these things off his wrists so that she could teleport without bringing along the chains.

After a moment, an idea struck her. Jade concentrated and began to enlarge each cuff until she could slide them off his wrists and ankles, and then shrank them back to the size they had been—there was no use in giving away that a Space mage had rescued him. There was already a Space mage attacking the compound, after all.

Here was the hard part. Carefully, she rearranged his broken body and then thought about the orientation of the room back in the Imperial City Tunnels. She would have to transport him directly onto the center of the bed, with very little room for error.

Jade took a deep breath, and once again closed her eyes. A dull explosion outside rocked the room, and she swore under her breath as she stumbled, nearly falling on Dirk but catching herself just in time. That had been close! Oh, god, too close. She had to be careful with him, he was so badly hurt... but she was going to do this, she could get him out, and it would be okay.

Kneeling on the disgusting stone floor again, she placed one hand on his shoulder as the other hovered about his hip. That would give her a frame of reference for herself and him, when she got him into the bedroom. Jade reached across to the Imperial City and willed again, and once more the world turned green and vanished before reforming into the other room. Dirk was a little bit to the left of the center of the bed, but she'd done it, he was here.

She took a moment to let the tension out of her shoulders and slumped back into the chair sitting behind her, which had conveniently been placed at the bedside. That had been difficult, and stressful, but the worst was over. Now all she had to do was wait for cue from Dave to let her know that she should bring him over so he could take her back to the beginning, where she would join John, Rose, and another Dave at the diversion before the Dave she'd taken over at the start of this would become the Dave that came to get her now, or ... something like that.

She stood on her slightly shaking legs and walked into the hallway. "Guys," she called. "Dirk's here. You... you might want to get a look at him soon, he's hurt pretty badly!"

Jane, Roxy, and Jake appeared almost immediately. "Dirk?" Jane asked, her eyes wide. "Where—"

"In there," Jade pointed back through the doorway she'd come from. "He's... yeah."

Jane let out a strangled gasp and ran into the other room, followed quickly by Roxy, who didn't seem to want to let her out of her sight. Jake paused next to Jade and hugged her. "Thank you," he said.

Jade smiled and relaxed against him for a moment, closing her eyes. "Thank _you_," she murmured, releasing him. "I'm not done, though. I've got a little more to do. Go on, go to them," she nodded at the doorway to Dirk's room, and Jake nodded, giving her a little smile before he vanished into the other room.

The communicator in the bag at Jade's side let out a 'ding', and she picked it up. It was a message from Dave—"harley its go time".

She imagined the courtyard again and was met immediately by a scene of chaos. A fire was blazing on one of the buildings, laser shots were wildly ricocheting everywhere, and the wind was roaring. John was somewhere flying around—she caught glimpses of him when she looked up—and Rose was firing spells at soldiers, lighting some of them ablaze and making others vanish in black smoke. There was a green flash, and Jade saw herself, blasting a great hole into the side of the burning building, part of the mansion.

"Jade!" a sharp cry, full of swallowed pain, caught her attention, and she whirled around to see Dave, slumped against a wall. His right leg was bent awkwardly, and one look told her it was broken. There was another Dave in front of him, fending off two soldiers with his sword. Without thinking, she hefted her laser rifle and fired a single neat shot. One soldier fell, and the other was neatly decapitated by a blow from the not-lying-on-the-floor Dave.

She ran over, kneeling next to the Dave who had called her name, her hair falling messily in her face as she irritably brushed it behind her ears. "Oh my god, Dave, are you—"

"I'm the most recent one," he said through gritted teeth, cutting her off. "Get me the fuck out of here, Harls. I'll send you back at home base."

"Oh, of course," she nodded, leaning forward to wrap her arms around him. He held on to her as they went back to the Imperial City again, and Jade deposited him on the floor in the main sitting room, which had been the easiest target in the noise and confusion of the heated battle under the stars. "Jake! Roxy!" she yelled. "Dave's here, too, and he's hurt!"

Without waiting for a response, Dave looked at her. "I'm sending you back to about ten minutes before we left. You have to go immediately, so that you don't see yourself. I'll be getting the goddamn jam out of the fridge and I'll see you, and then you get the fuck out of here. Got it?"

"Got it," she nodded. She didn't want to leave him, not when he was so hurt, but she knew she had to, so she darted in to press a light kiss to his cheek just before the world warped and blurred and reformed in the same contours, but without Dave in front of her as she knelt by the wall. Instead, she saw him in the kitchen, walking to the refrigerator. He looked up at her, surprised, and she waved briefly before warping space and appearing at the compound again. This time, it was silent, under the twinkling stars. The wind whispered and howled around her, whistling on the stones, but that was the only sound.

Jade stepped forward and looked at the wall. She was on the south side, like she remembered seeing. Good. And now... now, she had to cause some damage. That was easily done. A few atoms ripped asunder provided all the explosive force she needed to channel into the entire structure.

And then the battle began.

* * *

Jane sighed wearily. She'd healed the worst of Dirk's wounds and set Dave's broken leg, too exhausted to properly heal either of them fully, and now everyone was anxiously waiting for Jade, John, and Rose to return. She still couldn't believe that today had actually happened, that she was really, truly home again, either! She'd taken a long, hot bath, and Roxy had trimmed her hair, and right now she was content drowsy and almost falling asleep in the comforting spot between Jake and Roxy, both of whom had slipped their arms around her, while Dave lay on the opposite couch, probably asleep.

She was home, she was _home she was home!_

Roxy and Jake had taken turns filling her in on the details of what was going on. Jane could scarcely believe most of what they'd told her, from the fact that Roxy had stumbled upon their missing family while holding a not-quite-rally to the fact that she was actually truly here.

She had cried for a while, and they'd both pretty much flipped their lids. It was endearing, really, the way they fretted and hugged and petted her, and Jake had wrapped her in his arms and a blanket and Roxy had brought her hot chocolate just the way she liked it, and more cookies like the one she'd had earlier, and then Jane had cried harder because she had missed them both _so much_, and she was just so, so happy that she was finally back here, back with them.

That didn't mean that she wasn't terribly worried and upset about Dirk. She'd cried over him, too, tear after tear dripping from her chin onto his shirt as she labored over his broken ribs and the barely-scabbed-over awful lacerations from the whips and swords, and she'd sat in the chair by his bedside for a long hour, just holding his hand and willing him to wake up, willing his fever to go away, because for all her hype as a healer she didn't know how to heal the infection, she hadn't had to do that before; not even in the dark districts had she seen wounds this awful, and she didn't know how to fix it. She'd held his hand and thought about how he'd held her close and soothed her and how this hand had stroked her hair as she'd cried into his chest as they sat in that awful prison cell. And then she'd left the room, because despairing over his limp form wasn't going to help anyone, and she just wanted to lose her sorrows by hiding in Jake and Roxy's arms, so she was.

Roxy was singing something softly, and it was enough to draw Jane from the path to her exhausted slumber. She listened, content, for a few moments, to the gentle lilting melody, and when her friend finished, she lifted her head from Jake's shoulder to look over at Roxy. "What was that song?"

"Oh, shit! Did I wake you up?" Roxy asked, her eyes wide. "Sorry Janey, I didn't mean to!"

"No, no," Jane shook her head, tugging on the other girl's sleeve to tell her to come closer. Roxy obliged happily, snuggling against Jane, so that the smaller girl was effectively sandwiched between her and Jake. Jane laughed. "I was just listening," she smiled slightly. "It was pretty. What was it?"

"Oh," Roxy said dismissively, "just an old lullaby my mom used to sing me sometimes. Nothing really, just a lot of sweet words and all that cutesy stuff."

"I like it," Jane said. "Can you teach it to me sometime?"

Roxy seemed surprised. "Uh, sure, of course! It's a really simple song, though..."

"But a pretty one," Jake offered with a grin. Roxy shrugged and nodded, laughing, and Jane smiled as she observed them. It was almost funny how easily she'd slipped back into their light conversations, though sometimes she slipped out again, whenever she thought about what... what her last month had been like. It wasn't something she _wanted _to think about, but sometimes her thoughts went to something that reminded her of it, and the next thing she knew, she was holding back tears again... oh god, here she went—

"Oh no, Jane, no no no, don't cry!" Jake said hurriedly, reaching up to gently wipe away the first tear before it fell. "It's okay, we've got you, please don't cry..."

"Jake," Roxy murmured, looking up to him for a moment before she cupped Jane's cheek in one hand. "Janey, honey, it's okay to cry if you have to, okay? But don't make yourself hurt. Just lemme hold you, and I love you and I'm sorry for everything, and I—we both love you, so, so much."

"I think," Jane managed, swallowing the lump in her throat as she smiled tearfully at both of them, "I think these are happy tears."

"Oh, thank god," Roxy murmured, slumping into her again, and Jane laughed through her tears as Jake let out an _oof_ when she fell against him. "You had us worried there!"

Before Jane could respond, there was a green flash and suddenly three more people were standing in the sitting room. They all looked rather worse for wear, exhausted and covered in minor bruises, cuts, and scrapes, but at least no one looked too terribly wounded, and everyone in the room stared at each other for a breathless, ecstatic moment, and then John let out a whoop.

"We did it!" he crowed, scooping Rose up in a crushing hug. She let out a surprised yelp that turned into a laugh as she ruffled his hair and reached out to do the same to Jade's.

"Yes, we did!" she agreed as he set her down, and Jade hugged first John and then Rose, beaming. Jane looked at the three of them, and at Dave, who stirred and pushed himself painfully into a sitting position.

"Holy shit," he muttered, and then again, a smile spreading across his face, "Holy shit. You guys, that actually worked. Hell fucking yes!"

Jade laughed and hurried over to hug him, too, plopping down on the couch next to him and letting out a surprised laugh when he flopped back down, lying with his head on her lap. Jane smiled as Roxy let out a cheer.

"Good job everyone!" she beamed, and let go of Jane for a moment to stand up and run to Rose. Jane shifted closer to Jake in the absence of Roxy's warmth, and he squeezed her close, beaming.

"I knew we could do it!" he said jubilantly, hugging her tightly with spontaneous joy. "I knew it!"

"I'm so happy," Jane said, because it was true, she was happy for the first time in weeks. "I'm so, so happy!"

"Me too!" Roxy beamed, and seized her hands, ignoring Jake for the moment in order to pull Jane up from the couch to hug her again, letting out a joyous squeal.

As the celebrations around the room continued, everyone laughing and talking and hugging and crying a little, too, Jane couldn't stop smiling. She was finally, _finally _home again. The day she had doubted she would ever see had finally come. And she was oh, so very painfully glad.

* * *

_AN: Chapter 34, aka Songbird Writes 9000 Words For One Chapter. Holy shit. That was longer than expected or intended._

_Also do you see me cleverly avoiding writing battle scenes because those are difficult? Hehehe. _

_Um... updates might be a little slower during the week, at least for the next two or three weeks. It's college app cramming time, and as much as I'd rather write D&amp;D, I have to do those college essays sometime, you know. So yeah! :D Enjoy this 9k words! (And give me praise for it because it was so much to type and edit and ;_;)_

_Haha okay! Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing! c:_


	35. Chapter 35: Roxy - Contentment

_[Transmission from: ? Error – Sender Undisclosed]_

_My dearest Imperial Lady,_

_It may interest you to know that JC, DS, and RL are indeed all collaborating in their plans to attempt to overthrow you, as you may have suspected. While I am sure this poses no threat to one of such impeccable stature and strength as yourself, it nonetheless struck me as information that you would find pertinent; as such, I would never dream of hiding it from you. I also am sure you know the current situation. I trust you will make the correct decision._

_—__E._

_[Transmission terminated. Signal untraceable.]_

* * *

Three days had passed. Things were remarkably calm and nice and blissful now, and Roxy couldn't have been happier. Sure, there was some unrest in the streets above their heads, and they had to be careful because surely Lord English, whoever they were, would want retribution, but it was okay. She had her Jane and Dirk back.

Dirk... still wasn't in a good way. Right now, Jane was in his room, working her magic to try and patch him up as best as she could. Roxy was waiting outside in one of the two bedrooms the girls had taken to using, which was the one the two of them shared, while Rose and Jade had the other one. One bedroom was only Dirk's, but Jake didn't stay with them the whole time, only popping in for visits when he could. He'd reluctantly gone back home two days ago, because he still had to stay at work and be as unsuspicious as possible. Dave with his broken leg stayed in the other room; Jade had remarked that it was kind of a sad coincidence that both the Striders were the ones who couldn't leave their beds. Of them, Dave was doing a lot better than his brother; he complained a lot about how much it sucked that he couldn't move without help, but at least he was able to complain, as Rose had pointed out. He'd snapped his mouth shut and fallen silent for the rest of the day.

Not too much had been going on, really. They'd all just spent the last three days relaxing and being with each other and not worrying too much about where to go next, speaking in terms of plans. Actually, Roxy realized suddenly, they hadn't made _any _plans. That ... that was probably something they ought to fix, really. She could just bring it up at dinner tomorrow, she supposed. That would be a good time, right? Jake would be over for dinner, because it was a weekend, finally, so everyone would be there together—well, except for Dirk, but that couldn't really be helped.

Just then, the door opened, and Jane stepped in. Roxy looked up at her brightly, and just like she did every time she saw Jane for the past few days, she hopped up to hug the other girl. "Hi, Janey!"

Jane sighed, dropping her head to rest against Roxy's shoulder. "Hey," she said. Roxy felt her heart sink a little bit.

"Still no good?" she asked, already knowing the answer but hoping that somehow it would be different.

"Still no good," Jane confirmed, and Roxy felt her enthusiasm deflate. How long would it take for Dirk to recover? His wounds weren't really the problem, just the source of it. Some of the deeper lashes on his back had gotten infected with something while he was in that awful deep cell, and he was running a dangerously high fever, staying asleep most of the time and only waking up for a few minutes a day, which were usually just filled with either moans of pain or silent tears and some sort of fever-induced delirium before he lost consciousness again. It broke Roxy's heart to see him like that, and it hurt even more because she couldn't do anything to help him.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Jane added, her voice catching on the last word. Roxy immediately tightened her arms around her and kissed the top of her head, rocking her a little bit in an effort to soothe her.

"It's not your fault," she murmured. "You're doing everything you can."

"It—it is my fault!" Jane wailed suddenly, burying her face in Roxy's shoulder and starting to cry, the force of her sobs shaking her already thin frame. Roxy felt her heart crack a bit further.

"Shhh, no, no it's not," she said softly, stroking her hair. "It's not. You didn't do anything to him. That was those bastards over at Fuckface Central. It's their fault, not yours. You're trying to help him. It's not your fault, honey, I promise—"

"No," Jane shook her head, her voice muffled and shaky as the tears kept coming. "No, you don't understand, they—they hurt him because of me, because I didn't—I couldn't—If I had just said something or thought of something earlier—"

Oh, hell no. So they'd tried to play Dirk and Jane against each other for information, and the sobbing wreck of a girl in her arms was the result, as was the broken boy in the next room. Roxy felt a flare of rage zing through her. "Jane Crocker," she said, a hint of steel in her voice. "Did you raise a hand to him?"

"No! No, I couldn't—I could never—but I didn't—"

"Then you didn't hurt him," Roxy interrupted. "No, I don't want to hear whatever made you think that this is your fault, because that's fucking bullshit. I'm sorry, honey, but it is. Let me guess: some piece of shit was trying to get you to talk about the movement, and when you didn't tell him, he had a bunch of bullies beat Dirk half to death?"

Jane was silent for a moment, save for her occasional sniffles. She was still clinging to Roxy, though, and Roxy held her tightly, rubbing her back in large circles. "It... something like that," she finally said, her voice low and still trembling with more unshed tears. "But not quite. They weren't... they weren't going to beat him that much, but he—oh, god, Roxy," and she broke off again, shaking slightly as she pressed herself close. Roxy held her tightly, and then looked back at the bed behind them.

"C'mere," she said, gently drawing the other girl back. Jane didn't seem to want to let go of her at all, and it made her have to walk backwards a bit awkwardly, but she finally got to the bed and pulled Jane onto it with her, and then draped a blanket around the smaller girl. Warmth would soothe her too, and blankets always gave at least a slight sense of security.

After a moment, when Jane had gotten herself comfortable and snuggled into Roxy's arms again, she began to speak. "They were just going to hurt me, actually," she said in a small voice. "They had... they had this conjurer, one of the guards. Whenever we didn't talk, he would get this branding iron out, red hot and all. The first time, he almost—he almost burned me with it, but at the last second Dirk... Dirk gave in and told them where to find you, and they locked us up again."

"That explains it," Roxy mused, thinking back to the night that she'd had to climb down the side of a rough building and then fled to this place. She had never figured out how they knew where to find her, or why they didn't keep coming after her, if they'd noticed her hacking. Well, now she knew.

"Explains what?" Jane asked. "They kept telling us they captured you, too, but Dirk refused to believe them because they never showed us that you were there."

Fuckers. "They never captured me," Roxy shook her head. "They _tried_, but it takes more than just a bunch of soldiers at my door to kidnap me."

"Oh," Jane said, and it sounded like she was about to break down again, so Roxy quickly gave her a squeeze and snuggled her close. "I was... I was never sure. I was so, so happy to see you when I got back..."

"I was happy to see you, too," Roxy told her.

"I know," Jane smiled ever so slightly, and Roxy beamed at her, hoping that the sadness she felt seeing her beloved, wonderful best friend like this didn't show. "But... anyway. Dirk has magic."

"He does?!" Roxy asked in surprise. "What even? Huh, that's weird. What does he do, then? Make robots?" she giggled, but then stopped when she noticed that Jane wasn't smiling.

Instead, the other girl was looking away and biting her lip so hard that Roxy thought it might start bleeding. She finally looked up, her eyes teary. "He... kills people," she said.

Roxy stared in shock. "He _what?_" she whispered, certain that she'd overheard. Dirk? Killing people with magic? That was definitely not true. Dirk was a great swordsman and all, but Roxy was pretty sure he'd never taken a life. If he had, the only time would have been at the Massacre, when he was fighting for his life. But... magic that specialized purely in murder?

"That's why he—they—did that," Jane gestured lamely at the other room. "He killed the conjurer guard who was going to burn me the second time, and then another guard who attacked him, and then there was a fight, and then... he lost. That was the last time I saw him until you brought us home."

"Oh," Roxy said, unable to really process this information. She couldn't believe it! The boy she'd known from childhood was... but she could understand what he'd done, why he'd done it. She didn't blame him in the slightest. If protecting Jane had meant taking a life, a life of someone who was actively trying to hurt people that she loved, Roxy would have made the same choice. It was just ... a lot to take in.

But none of these thoughts were helping Jane.

She pushed them aside and shifted, pulling the blanket up so that they were both under its warmth. Jane was relaxing slightly in her arms, which was good. "Wanna take a nap, and then we can go make some cookies or something?" she asked, because Jane looked exhausted, and she needed to rest, especially because she spent so much time trying to fight Dirk's infection and heal Dave's broken leg, which required a lot of energy.

"A nap sounds heavenly," the smaller girl nodded, resting her head on Roxy's shoulder. Roxy wrapped her other arm around her, too, and hummed the same lullaby until Jane fell asleep.

* * *

The cake that they'd just baked was just barely finished, sitting and cooling in its pan as Roxy waited impatiently and Jane laughed, when the door from the path to the Tunnels slid open to admit Rose and John, who had gone out to town for something or other. Maybe just to take a walk or get some fresh air; Roxy wouldn't have blamed them for that. Especially because John hated being cooped up for long. Rose had said that that was characteristic of a Breath mage, but it was still kind of funny to see him pacing up and down and up and down until Dave threw pillows at him because he kept seeing a flash of blue go back and forth by his door.

"Mm, smells good in here," Rose commented as they walked in. "What did you make?"

"Cake!" Jane said with a bright smile that Roxy hadn't seen in far too long. "It's red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and a little bit of a white chocolate drizzle."

"Sounds good, too," Rose smiled. "And," she added, leaning over the counter to see the pan, "it _looks _great."

"You people and your cakes and cookies and all that," John shook his head. "How do you even eat that much sugar in one sitting?"

"But they're so good!" Jane protested. "Don't you like _any _sweets? I could make you—"

"Nope, shush," Roxy interrupted, sliding over to clap a hand on Jane's shoulder. "If he's not eating any, that means I get his portion. More cake for me!"

"Oh, man, now I feel like you're just taking advantage of me," John shook his head. "Rose, look at this. Your daughtermom is using my dislike of cake."

"She's using it to eat the cake you weren't going to eat anyway," Rose pointed out. John frowned at her.

"Of course you would side with her," he said melodramatically, crossing his arms and turning his back on her. Rose, unperturbed, slid an arm around his waist and tickled his side. John shrieked and jumped three feet into the air, where he remained, curled up defensively.

Rose laughed.

"Oh, ha ha, good one, Rose," John huffed, keeping the act up as he drifted back to the ground on the other side of the counter, placing Roxy between himself and the other Lalonde. "That's right, just add injury to insult!"

"So, Johnny," Roxy turned around to face him, a bright, disarming grin on her face as she struggled not to laugh. John looked at her, grinning back, and cocked his head to one side. It was a habit she'd noticed Jade use, too, and Jake sometimes. Jane too, now that she thought about it. Maybe that was something their whole family—family? If that was the right word—just did. Weird! Roxy tried her hardest not to let her innocent smile turn into a mischievous laugh as she asked him, "You're ticklish right here?" and her hand shot out to poke his side.

John yelped and jumped back into the air and flew higher, this time, refusing to come within arm's reach of either Lalonde. "Screw you guys!" he retorted as Jane laughed.

"If it helps," she offered, "you can have some cake!"

"Sooo funny," John drawled in reply.

"Well, I for one would love some cake," Rose smiled sweetly, and Jane nodded.

"It should be cool enough to cut now," she said, turning around to retrieve plates and forks and a knife from the cabinets and drawers. Roxy quickly grabbed a knife from the drawer near her and offered it to Jane, who smiled her thanks. "I haven't frosted it yet, so I'll let you do that. You can add as much or as little as you like!"

That cake looked soooo delicious. It really did. Roxy watched with a wide smile as Jane smoothly cut several perfectly-even slices, her hand steady from years of experience working with knives and cakes and things, and then happily dug in when she received her plate.

"Oh my god Jane, this is so good! Are you _sure _I helped make it? It's not burnt or awful tasting!"

"I'm pretty sure you did," Jane nodded, giggling slightly. "I mean, it wasn't me who dropped the batter on the floor the first time."

"True," Roxy nodded, pointing at her with the end of her fork. "Very true."

"It _is _excellent," Rose agreed warmly. "You're just as good a chef as I remember."

"That's still just plain weird to me," Jane said wryly. "This whole... alternate universe family thing, I guess. It's so strange!"

"It is very strange," John agreed from his lofty perch. "But hey! You're my grandma, I'm your grandpa, there's some weird time-traveley stuff involved, and it all works out! Cool, right?"

"It is pretty cool," Jane conceded. "Just also a lot to take in, I think. Especially because I knew you all to a degree, but I didn't know _you _all, and it's just... weird."

"We feel the same way, trust me," John said dryly. "Do you know how weird it is to see one of your grandparents but they're _your age?_"

Jane, Roxy, and Rose all gave him looks of varying degrees of incredulity.

"Oh, right," he chuckled. "I guess you do. It's weird as hell!"

Just then, there was a yell from Dave's room. "Fuck you guys! I can smell that damn cake from back here, you know!"

Roxy laughed brightly, calling back, "It tastes just as good as it smells!"

"_Fuck you, Lalonde!_"

"Please don't fuck my mother, that would just be strange," Rose called.

"_Fuck you, too!_" Dave retorted. Roxy laughed again.

"I guess I can take him some cake," she shrugged. "Oh, and is Jade in there? She is, right?" That would mean two slices, then, she figured, cutting a slightly less even slice and dropping it onto another plate, where she messily smeared frosting on the sides. Jane giggled at her attempts, sitting over there with her pristine, pretty cake slice and frosting. Roxy stuck her tongue out at her—juvenile? Hell yeah. Growing up was overrated.

She stabbed a fork into the center of the slice and duplicated the action so that she had two slices of delicious cake and walked down the hall, a spring in her step. In the other room, Dave was propped up on his pillows, Jade leaning against his side. She looked like she'd been asleep until he started complaining about cake, and Roxy shook her head sympathetically.

"Here you go, cripple," she said cheerfully, handing him one of the plates.

"Thanks," Dave rolled his eyes.

"And here you go, Jade!" Roxy beamed, passing her the other plate. Jade sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh! Thank you, Roxy!" she said brightly upon realizing what it was. "Dave, can you pass me my glasses?"

Dave set his plate on his lap and reached over to the nightstand to grab said glasses, turning to Jade to slide them onto her nose. She giggled. "Thank you, Dave."

He shrugged and took a bite of his cake. "No prob."

Roxy waved merrily at them both and waltzed back down the hallway to the kitchen. John was still floating, while Jane and Rose were chatting amiably about the market today, which was where Rose and John had gone for a few hours.

She plopped back down onto one of the stools at the counter to enjoy her own delicious culinary confection, smiling still. Today had been a good day, just like yesterday and the day before. It was cheerful and nice and it gave her hope. Maybe they were all going to heal, and everything would be alright.

* * *

_AN: Wow. Thank you all for the stunning response to last chapter! :D It made me feel like that whole 9000 words was worth it, haha. I know this one's kind of short, but hey, not everything will be action packed! It's slowing down a bit, and they're just getting a chance to breathe. (... I mistyped that as bleed. Oops.) _

_Updates will still be pretty slow compared to in the past, I'm afraid. School's keeping me busy!_

_Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone. :D_


	36. Chapter 36: Jane - Healing

_[Transmission from: ? Error – Sender undisclosed]_

_To the esteemed Empress,_

_My heartfelt condolences for what almost happened today. The information I gave you recently is, I trust, still pertinent and is surely in your thoughts. I do hope you remain safe from any future "issues", shall we say, such as this. After all, who knows when the next one might pop up? One can never be sure. Even a great seer can be fooled. _

_Do be careful, my dear. Void magic is a tricky art. Try not to underestimate it._

_And if you do, do not say I did not warn you._

_—__E._

_[Transmission terminated. Signal untraceable.]_

* * *

_Oh, god, no._ He was still feverish, too hot and pale. Jane blinked back tears of frustration as she looked down at Dirk, clutching his hand in both of hers as she sat in the chair by his bedside. He was lying on his stomach, because his back was too badly damaged to even think about laying him down on it, and facing her, but his eyes were closed. A slight sheen of sweat ran across his brow, furrowed in consternation at whatever awful fever dream was tormenting him, and red blotches of infection were splattered over his pale skin.

"Why won't you just wake up?" she asked, distraught, to no response. At this point, though, she wasn't expecting one. Five days of this had already passed, and he hadn't made much improvement. It was honestly very disheartening, and Jane didn't know what to do anymore. But at least, as Jake had pointed out, he wasn't getting _worse_.

"I don't know how to help you," she continued, bowing her head so that she could touch her forehead to his limp fingers. "Nothing I do seems to work! It's like I can keep it from spreading, from hurting you even more, but I can't make it better."

There were a few more moments of silence. Jane shifted her hands so that she could feel Dirk's pulse under two fingers, reassuring her that at least he was alive, at least he was... no, he wasn't okay, per se, but alive. That was something. She would cling to that. There was no way he could die, no, not now, not when he'd just been restored to her. They were together again, with Jake and Roxy, too, and they were safe, and that meant he _couldn't _die now. It was unthinkable and it would never, never ever happen.

Never.

Right.

This time, the tears that she had to swallow weren't angry or frustrated ones. As she took a few moments to breathe, to regain her composure, Jane squeezed Dirk's hand again.

"Please be okay," she begged. "You _have _to be okay."

He still didn't reply, and Jane slowly relinquished her grasp on his fingers to wipe at her eyes, taking a deep breath. She was so very tired, but... She closed her eyes and sluggishly drew on her much-drained magic again, summoning the reluctant dregs of power to the surface. The past few days had depleted her supply of magic constantly, between Dirk and Dave's broken leg, which she was going to have to take more slowly. She'd already healed that a good degree, speeding up the healing process by a month or so. Dirk was taking a greater toll, because she honestly had no idea how to focus her energy to heal him. She just fumbled at the infection as she closed the wounds, hoping that throwing enough power at it would somehow help. At least, it helped to stem the spread of infection, but past that, she didn't seem to be accomplishing much.

Which was why she was trying again now. Every little bit counted, and stopping the infection from growing was ... it was something, even if it wasn't what she wanted to accomplish. But dammit she was going to do everything she could to help him!

A deep breath in, and out. Jane stood up and began to skim her hands, glowing with that misty blue light of hers, over his wounds, hovering particularly over the areas that were infected and painfully red. Her touch was cool, and she felt the fever receding just a little, like it did every time, but as soon as she moved away from one area to another, it started to come back, slowly building back up to its previous intensity. It was like a stubborn beast digging its hideous claws into his flesh, slinking into the darkness when she brought a light but refusing to let go and coming out again when she was gone. It was infuriating, she couldn't stand this awful fever, she had to find a way to cure it and oh god she was suddenly so _exhausted_. Jane extinguished her healing light and collapsed into the chair again, resting her head on one hand for a moment as she caught her breath.

Damn, she must have used more energy than she thought, or had even less to draw from than she'd realized. The world was a little fuzzy and kept swaying, telling her that she'd come too close to drawing on her own life energy, too, and she took several seconds to sit very still and just breathe until she could see straight again.

That was unfortunate. Jane supposed that she'd better go eat a big meal and then go to sleep... or she could just close her eyes here, for a few minutes that would probably end up being hours, and—no, that would probably lead to her still being exhausted when she woke up. Normally, she wouldn't care about that, but she had to keep her own energy up in order to heal Dirk, which meant she had to take better care of herself, ironically. Well, Roxy would be pleased with that if nothing else.

It was a little bit absurd, the thought that tormented her. A few nights ago, she'd sobbed herself to sleep holding his hand and apologizing over and over—"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I never meant to doubt you, I always knew you love me and I love you, I swear it, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please come back, please, please..."—but he had never stirred, and the irrational guilt within her didn't really decrease. It made no sense and she knew it, but she couldn't help but hate herself just a little bit because of how in those days, those dark, lonely, awful days, she'd ... she'd wondered about Dirk, told herself he was dangerous and unsafe, agonized about how he'd killed soldiers in front of her.

But he had done that for her sake. He had done it to save her.

"Please, please, come back, wake up," she whispered, reaching out to touch her fingers to his cheek, fleetingly, haltingly brushing his flushed skin and wishing that the touch of her hand would cause his pale eyelashes to flutter, his amber eyes to open and focus on her. But he didn't.

Instead, there was a little rush of air, and then a knock on the open door. Jane looked up, her eyes watery and bright, to see John standing there, looking a bit unsure and a little awkward.

"Hey," he said, with an ever so slight shrug.

"Hi," Jane replied, hoping that she could control the shakiness of her voice. "Do you need something?"

"Not really," he shook his head. "I just thought I'd... I dunno, come see if you're okay, I guess."

That was sweet of him, she supposed, but she didn't really know how to reply. It had taken a good deal of convincing for her to accept that this was her alternate universe grandson/grandfather, and that his sister was also her granddaughter, in a way. It didn't really make that much sense, until one dropped almost all preconceptions about what magic could and couldn't do, not to mention most logical assumptions. But beyond just being illogical, it was ... unnerving, in a way. This boy was the same person who grew up to be the man _she_ had grown up with, but he had known her when she was old. It was just very strange to have to wrap her mind around such a concept. But ... it was good, too. He was family, wasn't he?

She didn't fully know how much she trusted the newcomers. They were good people, and they were close to Roxy and Jake, but Jane didn't know them as well. She knew of them, and she knew that they'd rescued her—she didn't think she'd ever forget seeing John that first time, or the moment when Jade appeared out of thin air and brought her home—but they were closely knit already. She didn't really have much of an idea of how the eight of them would fit together.

It was nice of him to make an effort, though. "I'm ... I'd be lying if I said I'm fine, but I feel that's fairly obvious already."

"Yeah, it kinda is," John agreed. "I thought you might like some company or something. You look really tired, too. Wanna go get dinner?"

"Yes, please," Jane nodded. "Dinner sounds wonderful."

"Great!" he grinned. "I'll cook. You can sit and rest. Don't worry, alternate universe you taught me everything I know about the kitchen! It'll be edible, I promise."

With a last glance at Dirk, Jane stood up, swaying slightly. "Alright, John. Thank you."

"No problem!" he shook his head, holding out a hand to lead her back to the kitchen. "Anything in particular you'd like?"

"Whatever you want to make is fine with me," Jane responded wearily. Grief was almost as tiring as the constant drain on her magic, but at least here was a bright spot. She missed Poppop a lot, and this was somewhat like having him back.

"Okay, I'll make... hm. Soup! Soup and bread," John decided as they entered the main room, where Dave was lying on the couch, asleep. Rose, Roxy, and Jade had gone for a trip into town, and Jake was at his house. With a pang, Jane thought of her own house, full of all the little things that she loved even though it was bland and colorless. Her rug was worn just so from all the times her friends had trooped in for dinner, there were little presents here and there that they'd given her over the years, there were pictures of Dad and Poppop... maybe she should go back there soon, and get all the things she needed.

"That sounds wonderful," Jane sighed. John took one look at her and steered her to the other couch, where he gently pushed her down.

"Go to sleep," he said. "I'll wake you up when it's ready! Get some rest, okay, Jane?"

"Okay," she replied, feeling sleep already stealing over her, though she was vaguely aware of John draping a blanket over her. She really was tired...

* * *

Not too much later, there was a bright flash that jerked Jane out of her slumber. On the couch opposite her, she saw Dave jerk awake, too, one arm already trying to grasp the hilt of a sword that wasn't at his side. In the middle of the room, Jade, Roxy, and Rose were standing, all three of them panting like they'd just run a long race.

"What's going on?" Jake's voice asked, and Jane sat up in surprise. He was sitting on the couch next to her—when had he arrived? He must have just gotten here, she guessed.

"Guys? Is everything okay?" John called from the kitchen, peering over at them.

"We're fine!" Jade called back, shaking her head to toss her hair away from her face. Green sparks were still flickering around her body, and her posture was defensive, though she was relaxing now that they were back in the base. Next to her, Rose was standing ever so slightly in front of Roxy, a thin, almost needle-like knife held in one slender hand.

"What the hell happened?" Dave demanded as he scooted over to lean against the armrest of the couch. "Why'd you just do that, Jade?"

"We had nowhere to run and we needed to get back here!" the girl exclaimed.

"Why were you running?" Jake asked, alarm coloring his voice. Jane shifted to lean her head on his shoulder, and he slid his arm around her. She was still really tired, but this was probably something important. And besides, dinner would be ready soon, wouldn't it? So there was no point in going back to sleep.

"The damn riots," Roxy shook her head, dumping her light cloak on the floor and collapsing onto the couch on Jake's other side. "They got violent again."

"_Again?_" Jake groaned. Roxy rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Riots?" Jane asked. She hazily recalled Roxy mentioning something of the sort, but she hadn't paid much attention at the time due to both her exhaustion and her need to help Dirk. Something about a Rogue and extra protests that were still ongoing?

"Yup," Roxy sighed. "I told you about how I took up the movement after the Massacre, right? Being the Rogue and all? Anyway, I've kept that up for a while, but people are dumb and these days the protests are bordering on violent. People keep fighting the Batterwitch's troops when they come in. Which, yeah, I can see why, but the whole point of this is _not_ to fight out in the open, not yet. There's not enough of us. And then today, we three went out to see the one scheduled for today. Oh, that reminds me, there was a bit of news floating around today. Some idiot mage apparently tried to kill the Batterwitch. They conjured themselves weapons and all, but they didn't count on her having guards or something? I dunno. Dumb. But supposedly they escaped, too."

"What kind of dumbass goes in alone on that kind of thing?" Dave snorted, crosing his arms. "Idiot."

"I'm amazed they got away," Rose shook her head. "It's almost impossible to think of. It might indicate some skill at magic, at least."

"Or luck," Jake pointed out.

"Luck is a form of magic," Rose shrugged lightly. "Who knows? This person might end up becoming an asset to us."

"Or not," Roxy shook her head. "You know, because they made security tight and there was another crackdown out there?"

"Is _that _why you were running?" John asked, coming out a few steps from the kitchen to frown at them. "You're all okay, right?"

"Yes, we were running from soldiers before we took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end alleyway, and yes, we're all fine," Rose answered. "No one saw us vanish, as far as I can tell. We were far enough ahead that we rounded the corner and teleported away before we were in their line of sight again."

"You're sure?" Dave asked carefully.

"What does it matter if they did see me teleport?" Jade asked. "They don't know who I am specifically, they can't track me down. And I could take them out in an instant if I need to."

"Yeah, but you should still be careful," John sighed. "Don't be reckless just because you're awesome, sis."

Jade nodded sheepishly. "I know, I know, I'm just ... getting used to this, you know."

"I know," he gave her a little grin. "By the way, guys, dinner's ready if you want it."

"Oh my god, _please_," Roxy hopped up from the couch. "It smells amazing and I'm so hungry!"

John laughed as he waved them all into the kitchen. "Fresh bread and potato soup, come on!"

"You made soup?" Jade asked as she hurried to grab a bowl from the cabinet. "How did you know I've been wanting soup for like two days now?"

"You _are _my little sister," John pointed out, amused. Jane shook her head at them as she slowly stood. Jake grinned at her and once again draped his arm around her shoulders, and as everyone filed into the kitchen, Jane leaned against him for a few moments.

"How has your week been?" she asked him.

Jake shrugged slightly. "Fairly uneventful. I do wish I could be here more often, though! Perhaps I should just throw in the towel and walk out of that blighter's factory. What do you think?"

She paused. It would be really nice if Jake could be around more often, and at this point, it wasn't like any of them were completely legal citizens. The Batterwitch already knew about her, Roxy, and Dirk, and probably the spies had figured out that Jake associated with her a lot, right? Maybe it'd be safer for him to stay here. But on the other hand, he had stayed under her radar this long... it might just be for the best that he continue being a normal, good citizen, rather than quitting out of nowhere and then dropping out of sight. That would be suspicious behavior.

"I don't know," she said frankly. "Maybe it would be better if you stayed a little longer. But if you want to quit, and spend more time here, I'd be ... I'd be happy," she looked up at him with a little smile.

Jake considered for a few moments. "I'll think on it, I suppose," he said. "But I would like you to be happy. Smile more, please, Jane?"

"I'm trying," she sighed. "I'm trying."

"That's good," he said, passing her a bowl of soup. "That's all we can ask of you, really."

"Thanks, Jake," Jane smiled, with conscious effort, but it was still almost a normal smile, and that had to be worth something.

The two of them rejoined everyone else at the couches, where meals were taken for Dave's sake most of the time. Rose handed her cousin a tray with a bowl of soup and a saucer with a few slices of bread, and he nodded his thanks up to her. She was about to say something when she stopped, a frown creasing her brows, and touched a hand to her temple, then shook her head and gracefully sat down.

"You know," the seer said, "I had the oddest feeling just now. Very strange. Almost like a premonition was coming, but it didn't."

"Has that happened before?" Roxy asked. "John, by the way, oh my _god_. This soup is really good. Like, soup-er delicious!" she laughed. "See what I did there?"

John snickered. "Nice pun."

"It's happened a few times," Rose shrugged. "Usually the vision isn't important, and I can just see it later."

"So don't worry about it," Jake suggested with a grin. "Let's just have a nice meal and not worry for once! Is that so hard?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Dave said. "It can be very hard not to worry. Like, harder than—"

"Let's not go there," Jade said quickly. "Hush, Dave. No ridiculous metaphors right now! Eat your food."

"Okay, okay," Dave rolled his eyes but resumed eating.

"We can have a serious conversation about our next moves as a group after dinner, I suppose," Rose offered. "Until then, I don't think any harm can come of being lighthearted for a little while."

Jade giggled. "Yeah! I think it's _time _you _light_ened up, Dave!"

"Just. No," Dave shook his head. "I think you need to take a step back and put some _space _between you and those awful puns."

Roxy started to laugh. "Oh my god. How much time did it take to come up with that stuff? You guys are great!"

Jane shook her head. "You are all so very _lively _tonight," she said, daintily taking a sip of soup as a round of laughs went around the group. It was nice to joke around like this. It didn't erase the bad memories, no, but good ones could cover them up and make them stop hovering at the forefront of her mind. Silly moments like this were extremely rare in dungeons. Had she ever laughed while there? Somehow she doubted it.

And as everyone continued to eat, drink, and be merry, something warm and happy began to replace the fear and doubts and darkness in Jane's mind. It was something she'd missed, something she had keenly felt the loss of. It was nice to be home again.

* * *

_[Transmission from: Agent 42]_

_Recon mission successful. Returning to base._

_[Transmission ended. Signal traceable. Find location? **Y** N ]_

_[Processing...]_

_[Location: Tunnels. Coordinates: Error - confidential]_

_[Sequence terminated]_

* * *

_AN: Oh my gosh! This took me forever, I am so sorry D: but here it is, finally, after much waiting! Thank you all for being patient. Also shoutout to CarryOnMyWaywardFeels because I love getting new readers who leave me reviews! _

_And caaaaaan you feel the plot details toniiiight. It is wheeeere we are!_

_I feel like the writing this chapter is a bit subpar, but oh well, I guess. It's what happens when one gets out of the habit, isn't it? I'll try not to let that happen again. It's just a combination of schoolwork, depression, and college apps that kept me super busy all the time, I guess. Hopefully next chapter won't take me this long!_

_Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone. It makes my day! c:_


	37. Chapter 37: Jade - Torn Asunder

A day went by uneventfully, nice and calm and peaceful. Jane slept in late, looking calm and peaceful in her slumber, and Jade was sure to make everyone keep it down, for her sake. Sleep without nightmares after leaving captivity was rare and precious, and the other girl needed every wink she could get.

Right now, Jade and Roxy and John were preparing for an outing into town. Rose was going to stay behind and keep Dave company while Jane rested. Dirk's condition was barely improved, as if he was in stasis of some sort, and that was kind of disheartening, but Jade hoped he would somehow start to get better soon.

John and Roxy were sitting in the kitchen, finishing up their lunch, but Jade had already eaten earlier, so she walked down the hallway and lightly knocked on Dave's door. She had a feeling he just needed some company right now, even though he'd declined the offer of help to leave his room earlier. Sure enough, the answer was affirmative, and she stepped inside, closing the door again behind her before she crawled onto the bed next to him. Dave forced a slight smile in greeting, momentarily waving his fingers at her, and then lapsed back into silence. Jade sat patiently, just reaching over to hold his hand.

Finally, after a minute or two, he sighed and slumped over to rest his head on her shoulder, and she took that as her cue to squeeze his hand and ask, "How are you?"

Dave shrugged moodily. "Shitty."

"Yeah," she smiled wanly, "I kind of guessed. Do you... well, I guess this actually isn't a question. Spill the beans, mister."

He sighed again. "I dunno, I'm just really... I'm really fucking mad and disappointed and upset about—about that," he waved a hand in the direction of Dirk's room, and Jade nodded understandingly as realization dawned over her. He had gotten his hopes up when he'd found out that his brother was alive, certainly. She remembered—hazily, because she'd been _exhausted_, but she remembered—that day in the clearing in the forest, after she'd brought them to this universe, when she'd told him that Dirk was alive here, even if it wasn't his Dirk, and how happy he'd been. In their old universe, Dave and Dirk had had some unfinished conversations, some words that should have been exchanged but weren't, and then Dirk had been killed before they had had the chance to. Dave had lacked closure for a long time, and that wound had probably never really healed. Jade knew the pain from Grandpa and Nanna's deaths would never leave her, at least.

But Dave had had the chance to see his brother again, and he had been so excited in his own way, so thrilled and just so _happy_. And then that had been ripped away by Lord English's forces and what they'd done to him. It hurt Jade to see him like this. She could scarcely imagine how upset Dave was feeling right then.

"I'm sorry," she told him, shifting so that she could hug him tightly, and he buried her face in her hair and took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Not your fault, Harley," he replied, trying to keep his voice cavalier as ever, but Jade knew better, and she shook her head at him just slightly.

"Still," she murmured, running her fingers through his pale hair, "I'm sorry you're hurt like this. I wish I could do something to help you more!"

"You could stay here." The words were uttered so softly that for a second Jade didn't know if she'd heard them or not, if she'd just imagined the little mutter tinged with desperate sorrow. But she hadn't made that up, that was apparent enough. Oh, Dave...

"I'll stay," she said quietly in response, resting her cheek against his temple. His neck probably hurt, because he was leaning forward a little awkwardly to bury his face in her shoulder—a strange sight, because he was definitely the taller of the two of them—but she couldn't for the life of her dream of letting go, not now, not like this. "I'll stay, I promise."

Dave pulled away from her then, frowning at the floor. He looked fragile even though he wore an expression of displeasure, of disdain. But Jade could see through that. He was hurting, but he had a habit of always trying to cover it up.

"I thought you were going out again today," he said almost bitingly, and she froze. Oh, no, oh Dave. He was lonely all day whenever everyone else was having some fun and seeing the city and even though they spent some time with him, he was mostly left alone with his thoughts, because she'd just been too excited to see Jane and Jake again to pay him as much attention as she should have! And since he was never going to tell her all that out loud, never could make things easy and say "I'm lonely and everything is shitty", he was sitting here now making passive-aggressive comments to cover up his own slip, his own vulnerability from a moment before. She almost wanted to smack him. _Give me a little credit, Dave! I might have been spending a lot less time around you these days, but I've still known you almost all of our lives. I can see you're not okay!_

"And then you asked me to stay," she answered, hoping to repair whatever damage had been done. "So I'll stay."

His eyes flicked up to hers for a moment, and then the tension drained from his shoulders as he let out a defeated breath. "Fine."

Jade smiled tentatively at him, taking his hand again, and after a moment he squeezed her fingers back.

"Dammit, Jade, I can never stay mad at you," Dave muttered. "Who the hell taught you the sad puppy face, anyway? Shit like that should be illegal."

She laughed brightly and hugged him briefly before sitting back, beaming. "I'm pretty sure most of what I do is illegal, Dave!" she pointed out. "And most of what you do is, too."

"Man, so much illegal shit going down around here," he replied drolly, though his lips were twitching into a slight smile. "The pure amount of illegal shit we do should be illegal, too."

"Dave!" Jade laughed again, nudging his shoulder. "That _is _illegal, too!"

"Well, shit," he shrugged. "Looks like the Batterbitch beat me on that one too. How the hell did she pull something before the time dude did?"

"We just don't know," she giggled. "I mean, you're a very talented time dude and all. Maybe it just looks like she pulled it before you did, but you actually did it first by ... later going back in time? Or something?"

"Something like that," he agreed, obviously trying not to laugh at her lack of comprehension of time loops, and Jade playfully smacked his arm.

Just then, the door opened. "Jade!" Roxy was bouncing in the doorway, her hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail and her clothes casual yet elegant in a style that Jade was pretty sure only she could pull off. "You coming or what?"

"Actually, I'll stay here," Jade shook her head, looking over at Dave fondly. "You and John go! Have fun, okay?"

"Oh," Roxy blinked, seeming surprised, but she quickly nodded. "Okay! Sounds awesome! I'll drag Mom out with me, then. See ya later, guys!"

Without another word, she flung the door closed again and waltzed down the hallway, presumably to go drag Rose from her room and then let both of them get dragged around by John. John hated confined places, and it was mostly for his sake that they'd arranged these outings, every other day or so. Jade shook her head, laughing, and turned back to Dave.

"What do you want to do this fine afternoon?" she asked him, tilting her head to once side to regard him curiously. "We could play cards, sit and talk, maybe watch a movie..."

"A movie," Dave decided. "I don't give a fuck which one, though. You can pick."

"Yay!" Jade clapped her hands together, and then visualized the couch in the main room, facing the viewing screen, and its orientation respective to her location right now. She turned things around to face the right way in her mind, and then in a flash of green light and dissolved atoms in space, Dave was lying on the couch rather than his bed, though she'd brought the blanket folded at the edge of the mattress along with them, and she was floating a few inches above the floor. The couch wasn't as laterally wide as the bed had been, so by transporting herself, Dave, and the blanket as a block, Jade had ended up not actually on the couch. But that was okay, she'd seen it coming, and she lowered herself to the ground lightly and skipped across to the cabinet with the holocrystal data files. The lower districts had much less advanced technology and still watched films, but here in the upper side, crystalline data storage was all the rage. It was interesting, to say the least, because the data was stored in binary using the vibration of the crystal atoms and—

Oh wait, she was supposed to be picking one to watch, not examining every facet of how they worked. Anyway! Movie time.

"How does this one sound?" she asked, holding up a crystal displaying images of some fantasy-adventure-something movie, and peering over her shoulder at Dave. He shrugged as if to say "why not" and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Go for it."

Jade nodded and placed the thin crystal into the compartment near the screen, and then bounded back over to the couch, snuggling into Dave's side a little bit precariously so as to not jostle his injured leg, though it would probably be healed enough for him to walk on in a week or two. The difficult part was balancing between the edge of the couch and Dave's leg. But she was tiny enough to make it work!

Dave offered her half of the blanket, and she happily accepted that, too, tucking the ends around herself and wrapping one arm around him. Dave slid an arm around her shoulders and held her, and the two of them settled in to watch the movie.

Around halfway through, when Dave had just cracked a joke about one of the characters' fashion choices and Jade had laughed hard enough that she'd nearly fallen backwards, off the couch, Jane entered the room, looking drained and exhausted, but strangely with a satisfied, gentle smile, too. There was a rosy hue to her cheeks, as if she was happy and couldn't stop smiling.

She joined them, sitting on the floor and leaning against the couch, her knees tucked to her chest. Jade petted her hair, and Jane twisted around to face her, smiling even more broadly.

"You were right," she said, and Jade blinked in surprise.

"About what?" she asked.

"When you said I needed to get some proper rest," Jane laughed sheepishly. "It worked wonders. Actually, I'm still not sure exactly how I did it, or what I did really, but that is really not the point now! What I'm trying to say is..." she took a breath, her eyes shining as though she still couldn't believe what she was about to say, "His fever has broken. The infection is all but gone."

There was a heartbeat of silence, save for the background sound of the roaring dragon on the screen as it flew above the clouds. Then, Jade let out a jubilant whoop and hugged the other girl, grinning broadly. "I knew you could do it!" she cheered, turning to look at Dave, who appeared almost frozen.

"He's—you're sure?" he asked, and Jade hugged him too. Everything would be okay now! "He's really going to be okay?"

"He's going to be fine," Jane nodded, her smile growing from a small, shy, satisfied one to a broader, joyous and disbelieving grin. "Oh my god, he's going to be fine."

Jade hugged her again, and this time Jane clung to her, laughing. "I'm so happy! You did it!"

Dave hugged Jade from behind, and the three of them awkwardly embraced each other and laughed. Life was finally taking a turn for the better. Soon, Dirk would be up and about too, and then they could all figure things out from there. Jade was hopeful. Rose seemed to be a bit nervous about something that the seer couldn't put her finger on, but that would probably be fine. They would all be fine. How long had it been since she'd felt this happy?

Too long, Jade thought. Well, no more! She was going to be happy. They all would. She was determined. Soon, they would all be happy and fine and then they could tackle life again but all together, one big family, and with that, how could they not be okay?

* * *

_"__Jade," Nanna called, "get your brother and come on in! Lunch is ready!"_

_Jade looked down from her perch in the tree behind their house, where she was sitting comfortably in the lower branches with her nose in a book. John had flown up to the very top, where he was eagerly looking around the yard and surrounding areas. "Coming, Nanna!" she replied, placing a leaf in between the pages for lack of a better bookmark, and then precariously clambering a bit higher. "John! Come down, it's time to go eat!"_

_John didn't hear her, so she climbed further, holding on to her book with one hand and hoping she wouldn't fall. "John! Let's go!" _

_The tree was impossibly tall. How far was John, anyway? Their food would be getting cold. Shaking her head, Jade kept climbing and climbing, the pinprick of blue above her that was her brother seeming to never get closer. _

_Suddenly, she lost her balance, wobbling back and forth for a comical, terrifying moment. She heard John call out her name, and looking down she saw him flitting between the branches to catch her, and behind him the house had turned to ash, nothing left. Then John turned into Rose, calling her name as she began to fall, and—_

"Jade! Wake up," Rose was saying frantically, shaking her. Disoriented, Jade opened her eyes to find that she was not in the old tree in the back yard, climbing up and up into space away from a burning house, but in fact she was in the room in the Underground—er, the Tunnels—that she'd fallen asleep in. And Rose was sitting up in a panic, her eyes wide.

"Wha...?" Jade asked blearily, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. If Rose was panicking, something was very, very wrong, and she felt fear and adrenaline starting to course through her as well as she grabbed her glasses and shoved them onto her nose.

"That vision, the one I couldn't find, the one that's been hovering around the edge of my consciousness but never pinned down, has finally come to me," Rose was saying, already out of bed. "They're coming. I don't think we have much time! Come on, we have to get everyone up and get out of here!"

"Now?! How did they find us?" Jade yelped, jumping out of bed and running to the door behind Rose. "Oh god!" In front of her, Rose hurried into Roxy and Jane's room, so Jade went to Dave and John's, urgently reaching out to grab John's shoulder when there was a loud _BOOM_ and the entire compound shook. Jade felt terror seize her even as John and Dave sat up, and all three of them saw the dust falling from the cracks ominously spreading across the ceiling. Fuck, there were bombs, and this was an underground hideaway! Shit, apparently they weren't looking to take prisoners this time!

"Jade?" John asked, his eyes wide as he fumbled at the nightstand for his glasses. "What's going on?"

"They found us," she said, reaching for Dave. "No time to explain! Get to Rose, she and the others should be in the main room—"

There was another explosion, this one closer, and John cried out a warning just as a chunk of the ceiling collapsed above Jade. Time seemed to slow down—and maybe it did—but she managed to give Dave a hard shove away and vanished herself in a flash of green to reappear next to John before it hurt either of them. "Go!" she cried, and they needed no urging. John flew a few inches above the ground and urged the air to lift Dave, too, because Jade didn't trust herself to teleport him somewhere that wouldn't collapse above his head. It was better if John could keep him mobile!

She ran after them, finding Rose, Roxy, and Jane in the kitchen area. "I've got supplies," she said, raising her hands, and with a flash of green everything they would need was stored in the bags.

"Where's Dirk?" Jane asked, looking around with dawning horror.

"I'll get him!" Jade called, already running back down the dust-filled hallway. Behind her, she heard yelps and shouts as another section of the ceiling caved in, but she didn't stop, she had to get to Dirk!

In his room, she found him groggily sitting up, coughing on the dust and trying to stand on his weak legs. "Whoa, hey, hold on—" she started, barely catching him in time as he tottered and fell. He latched on to her shoulders, breathing heavily as if that simple act had exhausted him.

"Who the fuck are you?" he gasped. Jade shook her head.

"A friend! There's no time to explain, just come on—"

The door collapsed. The lights flickered, and a column of rock, concrete, and debris cut them off from the hallway as the lights went out.

"Fuck," Jade said.

"Sounds about right," Dirk responded, coughing again.

_"__JADE!_" She thought she heard John's voice scream her name through the layers of rock, but she wasn't sure and this room was still collapsing, a pebble just hit her arm and that meant whatever was above her head wasn't going to stay there much longer. The rest of the place was likely no better. The main room would have already collapsed, if the smaller side rooms were caving in. If John, Rose, Dave, Jane, and Roxy hadn't already gotten out, well... Jade didn't want to think about that, but they couldn't still be here.

They had to get out of there, and right now, too! Suddenly, Jade remembered the old campsite in the woods. They had left some things there! Not much, but they had taken only the essentials when coming to Roxy's place. That meant those might still be hidden under the trees—

"Hang on, this can be a bit disorienting," she told Dirk, and then the green field took everything out of sight even as she felt the space between the rocks and their heads start to shrink rapidly.

And then they were in the forest, away from there, away from the collapsed rooms and the menacing _booms _of the bombs and the threat of impending death, and the air was strangely quiet, tranquil, and still.

* * *

A lone Void mage, clad in the robes of the Imperial Mage's League, accepted his promotion, his due for tailing the untrained Void girl. Those trained to see the marks of nothingness could easily tell she reeked of the Void. It had been nothing to follow her without gaining her notice, though the girl with her seemed to be a Seer of some sort and had proved suspicious. But he had done his job and done it well.

A squadron of elite troops who bombed the underground headquarters of the rioters returned to base, a job well done and no regrets on their minds. This was what they were trained for. This would end the riots in the streets, and assure a controlled peace in the city once more.

An Empress looked out on the destruction and nodded to herself, satisfied that her absolute power was not to be contested. If the Void girl thought she could try to assassinate _her_, well. She was a fucking moron and now she was dead. And same for that Shaded Prince—hah—and the Masked Maiden—peasant, more like. All of them were dead, and she was grimly pleased.

And behind it all, a puppetmaster told his troops that they no longer needed to pose as regular citizens and cause the fighting and riots during the "peaceful" protests. Their job was done. The strings had been pulled, and oh, how the toys had danced. Far away, somewhere, the dark puppetmaster leaned back his head and laughed.

* * *

_AN: The plot thickens..._

_That last section was fun to write. Maybe it cleared up some questions! Maybe it raised some more! :D Either way, I'm having a lot of fun with this story now. It took me a while to write this part because the big surprise thing wasn't supposed to be the whole chapter but that was the part I wanted to write! And then the update happened and for a while I was unable to write anything that wasn't DaveJade fluff. _

_Speaking of which... that update though. I mean, it's not like I needed that heart or anything. I won't put spoilers here, but oh my god, I was emotionally destroyed. I was NOT PREPARED when I made the foolish decision like "oh hey, it's midnight! so it's 10/25 now, I bet there's an update!"_

_Bad. Idea. I was up until 2 writing fluff to console myself. But that aside, it was a really good update in terms of animation and aesthetics and wow, it was gorgeous-when it wasn't killing my feelings (or anything else for that matter)._

_Also, happy Halloween, everybody! :D Have a very spoopy holiday! _

_Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, thanks for putting up with me taking forever between updates. You guys are the best. _


	38. Chapter 38: Roxy - False Phoenix

The Tunnels were dark, and all around them things were collapsing. Roxy scarcely knew whose hand she was grabbing, who had screamed, who jerked away and ran. It was too dark and chaotic and she knew her friends were around her, but then—shit shit shit!

"Out of the way!" she screamed, blindly shoving someone ahead of her. There was a huge slab of rock breaking and falling above their heads, and she heard Jane scream—SHIT! Jane was behind her!—but there was no time to turn and grab her, there was no time to respond to John's yell that she couldn't decipher, and then the rock and concrete cascaded down in a terrible roar and Roxy flung herself to the ground, one arm uselessly covering her head, as if that might protect her if it fell on her. But it didn't; she'd made it to the temporarily safe zone, apparently.

The sounds of destruction were muted all around by the huge barricade of impassable rubble, making it seem strangely silent. For a moment, she stood rooted to the ground, listening to the dull sounds of explosions, further down the blocked tunnel, the cries of people over that way—were some of them voices she should recognize? She didn't know—and the harsh sound of her own heaving breaths.

"Who—who's there?" she finally asked, edging away from the rubble in the darkness. Someone had to be with her, someone, please, don't leave her alone again. Somehow, she didn't have any idea how, but she could see outlines of things fairly well, and she could see that this was the corner of one of the main tunnels. It was relatively reinforced, and unless another bomb landed directly on top of it, the chance of collapse was low, for now. That didn't mean she could stay here, no, but it meant she could take a second to breathe, amidst the dusty, dry, choking air.

"Roxy?" It was Dave's voice, and she jumped up, looking around.

"Dave? Where are you?"

"On the floor? How the fuck am I supposed to know? It's black as hell down here and I can't fucking walk very well, in case you'd forgotten."

Oh right, she'd forgotten about his damn leg. God, this waking up at ridiculous hours and panicking was not doing her cognitive abilities much good—oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck! "Where—is anyone else here? Jane? Rose? John?"

There was no reply save the ominous shifting of stone and further distant, dull booms. Roxy felt her breath catch in her throat, thinking of that huge pile of rubble and the many ways someone could have been trapped and crushed, or maybe trapped in a place that didn't crush them but would eventually, or maybe they would just die when the air ran out, or—

"Fuck," Dave muttered. "Fucking shit, oh god, this is shit—"

"Shut the fuck up," Dave replied, and Roxy stiffened in surprise.

"What?" she asked the darkness, looking around to see that... what? There was a second Dave, this one able to walk perfectly well, kneeling next to the Dave on the ground and hauling him upright. And Dave-on-the-floor didn't find this weird at all? What the hell?

"You don't have to be such an asshole," Dave-no-longer-on-the-floor replied irritably. "Snippy bastard."

"Shut the fuck up and start walking, dumbass," Other Dave said tersely. "Or hopping. Whatever. I remember being angry and confused enough not to notice the fact that the goddamn ceiling is about to cave in over our heads, so I'll let that slide, but seriously dude, you gotta start watching out for shit like that. Otherwise you won't even live to be me."

"Fuck you, that can't happen and we both know it," Broken Leg Dave huffed. "Come on, Roxy, we gotta get out of here."

"Oh yeah, sup, Roxy," Not-Broken Leg Dave waved at her in the pitch blackness. How he could see or how he knew she could see, Roxy didn't know.

"Uh, yeah, what the hell?" she answered. "Did we—did no one just notice that Jane and Rose and John aren't with us? Holy shit, they're probably dead, oh my god, and Dirk and Jade and—"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Walking Douchebag Dave interrupted. "Now help me with this dude and let's _go_ dammit!"

The question of what the hell was going on and oh god her friends were dead and her mother was dead _again _oh god oh god fuck she couldn't take this, she was going to just sit here and have a breakdown and oh fucking hell she'd _just _started thinking maybe they could catch a break, but no, not they never could, could they? They never could be happy, they always would have some shitty thing happen just as she thought things were settling down and—

"Roxy!" Whatever The Hell He's Doing Here Dave snapped, casting a nervous glance above them as she raised her head from her hands. Roxy glared at him. "You're the one who can best figure out where the hell we are in these dark as fuck tunnels! Let's get moving!"

Roxy took a deep breath, swallowing the lump in her throat and the shock and the grief and the tears. There would be time for that later. Right now, Dave was all she had left, and she couldn't—she couldn't lose him too. Maybe the reason she could tell what was where was her Voidy magic. And she had to put that to good use now, didn't she? She had to be strong to help Dave. "Right. Sorry. I... I just..." she trailed off, then shook her head and hurried over to Leaning-On-Douchebag-Dave Dave, sliding her arm under his shoulders from the other side so that she and Random Fucker From Nowhere Dave could support him, hobbling away from the place that had become home. Several minutes of their tense, anxious and shocked silence passed, the only sounds being everyone's harsh breaths and muffled explosions and screams elsewhere. How many bombs would the Batterwitch drop on her own city to destroy her opposition?

"If—if we go north, I can get us to Dirk's old apartment, I guess," Roxy gasped between ragged breaths; trying to run, support someone else, and suppress tears all at once was very taxing. "We can't stay there long, though. But we could—we could stop, regroup, maybe?"

"Regroup?" panted Hopalong Dave. "Regroup with who?"

"Yeah, you're not regrouping with anyone," Shut-The-Fuck-Up Dave said, making Roxy want to reach over and smack him.

"Fuck you! Maybe they're alive!" she ground out, wanting to scream at him but not having the breath to spare. She wasn't going to tell herself otherwise! There had to be hope, she couldn't bear the thought of having lost them already. Sure, she knew deep down that they probably—they probably hadn't made it, she had no idea how she had made it herself but she was pretty sure the only reason Dave was safe was because he was the one she'd shoved in front of her, the one whose arm she'd seized as she dove away from the falling rubble, hearing Jane scream behind her and John gasp in horror. But she couldn't take that idea in, the idea that they were _gone_. Wasn't it better to numb herself a little, to let herself pretend there was hope?

"I didn't say they aren't alive!" Cryptic-Asshole Dave answered. "Stop assuming shit! And get out of the city. Don't go to the damn apartment. You need to head northwest and leave through the western gate."

"Why the hell would we do that?" Roxy asked, directing them to a right turn and skirting the edge of a wide pothole.

"Because that's what I remember doing, because future asshole me—that's me right now, yes I know you're thinking it—wouldn't stop squawking about it."

"Fucking spot on," Cripple Dave muttered. Future Asshole Dave elbowed his ribs as they slowed to climb the stairs that led out of the Tunnels. When they got to the top, Roxy stopped to let out a gasp, her eyes going wide as they took in the sight of the citadel.

Huge swaths of land were burning. All along the main body of the Tunnels, the path that Roxy knew lay underground by heart, bombs had fallen, explosions had lit, and now fires raged amid destruction, rained from the sky, a huge, orange pyre sending out black smoke and intense heat into the blue starry night. Maybe it was the smoke, maybe not, but a tear or two rolled down her cheeks as she watched buildings collapse to the sounds of screams, of crying children and bereaved loved ones mourning those who would not wake.

"That would also be the reason we don't go north," Piece-Of-Shit Dave added, and Roxy tore her gaze from the awful sight to pin him with a dirty glare.

"What the fuck is even going on?" she demanded, letting go of In-The-Middle Dave to poke Shithead Dave in the chest almost threateningly. "What is up with you? Why are there two of you? What do you mean about them not being dead? Why—"

"Slow the fuck down," he held up a hand placatingly. "Look, you know I'm—we, really, are—Time, right?"

Roxy nodded, stepping back slightly and crossing her arms.

"I'm a future Dave, coming back from a point far enough down the time stream that my goddamn leg is no longer an obstacle. I can't tell you what I mean about the rest of them. I can't tell you whether they are alive or not. The reason," he added upon seeing her furious look, "isn't that I'm trying to be a shitty friend or trying to make you mad, because I swear I'm not, and though he might not look like it this guy—" he indicated the Dave he was still holding up "is hurting real bad too. So I do know what you feel right now. But there are time loops, and I recall that future me was a total piece of shit this time around and there are actual causal problems that will happen if I tell you things that I don't remember being told, because then this present will no longer be my past, and then a whole lot of shit will happen that I don't care to go into. Long story short, I'm future Dave, there's shit I can't talk about, and I'm only here to help out with getting the cripple to the place you're going to go. Which means I'm pretty much done here, as soon as you guys figure your shit out."

Roxy was silent for a moment, taking it in. Time travel was a weird-as-fuck concept, it was around three in the morning, and all her friends were dead. It was a fucking _miracle _that she hadn't broken down in tears yet—maybe she was still in too much shock or something. "Where are we going to go?" she finally asked, her voice low and trembling as she tried not to cough on the smoke.

"First, can you make some crutches?" Future Dave asked, looking at Present Dave. Roxy mentally smacked herself. Oh, well, duh, those would be a good idea, wouldn't they?

With little effort, Roxy visualized and conjured a pair of crutches, not even caring that they were out in the open anymore. She was already a fugitive from both Lord English and the Batterwitch—what was a charge of magic against high treason, after all? Just more icing on the cake, she thought with a pang, because Jane loved cakes and icing and those things used to make her smile and—it didn't matter, and so she handed the crutches over with a nonchalant shrug. "Yeah, maybe I shoulda thought of these sooner, huh?"

"Nah," Future Dave shrugged. "Past you—that is, present you didn't. Don't worry about it."

"So you said we have to get out of the city via the northwestern gate?" Present Dave asked, his brow furrowed from both thought and suppressed pain. Roxy could see his knuckles were white from gripping the crutches so tightly. "We're not walking all that way, are we?"

Future Dave shook his head. "No. But I'm gonna leave you to figure your shit out. Do what you think you should do, just make sure you leave this hellhole by the northwest gate. I've got to go talk to—uh, I have stuff to take care of back in the future."

"Cool," Present Dave nodded once. "Bye."

Future Dave nodded back, then looked over to Roxy. She was once again watching the flames licking high into the sky, eyes stinging and burning from the acrid smoke that she couldn't tear her gaze away from. A huge swath of destruction ran through the city, along the boundary between the upper and lower districts that the main branch of the Tunnels had run under. Her apartment was gone, and now the secret base that had been more than just a base was gone, her family was all gone—all this was taken from her in such a short span of time, hardly a month. The false hope was the worst part! Twenty four hours ago, she'd been happy! It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair!

"Rox," Future Dave said quietly. "It'll be okay. I know you don't think it will, but I promise, it'll be okay."

"It will never be okay!" she burst out. "They're _gone_, everything's gone and I don't—I don't know anymore," and ah, yes, finally the dam broke, the tears came, and she sank to her knees, her face buried in her hands. This revolution had been a bad idea, no matter how noble the goals. God, they'd lost _everything_. Surely living under oppression would be better than this! She would go back to the pre-revolutionary days in a heartbeat! At least then she'd still had them all around, in some way, oh god oh god they were gone they were dead even though not too long ago they'd been alive... why did everyone get taken from her? Why did they all leave?

"Roxy," Present Dave let go of one crutch, wobbling, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, noticed his red-rimmed eyes, his lips pressed together too firmly, to hold back cries of anguish, perhaps, his trembling shoulders, noticed that he looked like she felt, if she looked hard enough, and that was enough to remind her that this was Dirk's brother, this was Rose's cousin, this was John and Jade's best friend, this was all she had left of her family, and she let out a sob as she surged to her feet again, burying her face in his shoulder as he leaned heavily against her.

Future Dave chose that moment to vanish in a flash of red, shifting and turning and mechanical as it faded away in increments rather than gradually, almost stranger to watch than what she'd seen of Jade's green sparks.

Roxy held him and cried for what felt like an eternity, vaguely aware that he was clinging to her and crying too, until that niggling voice of common sense in the back of her mind grew too loud to ignore, saying that it wasn't safe to stay here, right near the Tunnels and the fires and the danger. She had to move—_they_ had to move, because they were staying together, they were all either of them had left and they _had _to stay together, there was no other choice.

"What do we do?" she finally breathed, biting her lip to keep from breaking down again. Dave shrugged slightly, a hopeless gesture.

"What the fuck does it matter?" he muttered. "They're all probably dead. How the fuck are we alive?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "I don't know."

Dave was silent a few moments, probably just gathering his thoughts and trying to remain calm and rational and all the things that she couldn't bring herself to be right now, here next to the pyre of the last vestige of her home, of the place that had brought her joy all through her late childhood until now. "Future me said we leave the city. And I say we aren't walking all the way."

"So we leave the city, because there's a time loop saying we have to?" Roxy asked wearily. She didn't know if she wanted to leave. But was there anything left here other than pain?

"Pretty much," Dave said resignedly. "That's how Time shit works. What would be the easiest way to get out the northeast gate?"

Roxy shrugged, looking around without real interest for a few moments. She didn't want to leave, she felt numb and leaden and she wanted to sit here and cry until the fires reached here and consumed her too. Then her eyes alighted on a street that led somewhere she realized could be what they were looking for. "The train," she said, lifting her hand to point. "There is a train station that way. They wouldn't expect us to go to the train station, would they?"

"Not this soon, at least, I don't think so," Dave shook his head. "Let's go."

At four in the morning, the moons shone bright and calm in the sky as the train smoothly pulled away from the station, running far, far away from the city with its memories of pain and fire. Two tired souls rested hand in hand, clinging to the knowledge that at least the other was still there, and hoping that it would be enough.

* * *

A month passed. A new city, smaller than the capital, naturally, but fairly sizeable and large enough to provide anonymity, and a new life, too, started to settle into place. Roxy and her "brother" Dave, two travelers who hoped to gather information to perhaps write a book on the cultures of different cities, rented an apartment and had simple jobs to provide for them. Dave, whose leg had been hurt in a silly high speed spaceflight training accident, recovered soon and was back to his usual self, creating music to sell, while Roxy offered her services as a computer specialist. They knew about the recent events in the capital city, from the news coverage, of course, as they had been traveling at the time of the incidents, and shook their heads sadly. "How sad that those young people gave their lives for an unworthy cause," everyone said, and Roxy and her brother would dutifully nod along—how sad, how sad.

And then Roxy would come home to her mother's cousin and her best friend's brother, and she would cry and say "It's not fair, it's not fair!"

And he would nod and hug her and try to hold in his own tears, but it would never work, and he would end up saying, "I know, I know," and they would both grieve together.

Roxy hated this new life. It wasn't what she wanted, she had no friends here, not in this new, strange city of Ensypi, provincial capital and not planetary capital, not the Imperial City where her heart still lay despite all its problems. She couldn't move on, she couldn't be happy, she couldn't make friends. Getting close to people only ended in getting hurt, didn't it? But more than that, she just—she _couldn't_. It was too soon. It felt like every time she had lunch with their neighbor, a sweet enough girl named Irsa whose mother had taught her to make the most wonderful soups and stews, she felt a stab through her heart, as if she was replacing Jane and her excited baking habits. Every time she laughed about the inept behavior of some customers with her coworker Gaen, it felt like a betrayal of Dirk's memory. No, she couldn't let herself get close to anyone. It hurt too much.

"Dave," she sighed, coming back from work and dumping her bag on the floor with a _thump_ as she flopped onto the couch next to him, "what are we doing?"

Dave looked over from where he was mixing his next musical project. They weren't hugely popular, but his strangely haunting blend of electronic motifs and vocal harmonies brought in a good portion of their revenue, and making music made him feel better. "What are we doing about what?"

"What are we doing, here? Why are we here? What is the _point_?" she asked, exasperatedly gesturing at the apartment all around them. It was sparsely decorated and didn't at all feel like home.

"We're trying to live and move on," he said flatly. "Fucking emphasis on 'trying'."

"And failing," Roxy added dully. "I don't—I _can't _move on. Everything, every last fucking thing I do all day, reminds me of them in some way, and I hate this!"

Dave was silent for a moment. Then he opened his mouth, taking a shaky breath, before speaking. "I know. Sometimes, I walk down the street and the goddamn wind starts blowing and I look around like, 'oh, hey, that asshole Egbert must finally be showing his fucking face', but he never does, you know? And I keep expecting Rose to show up and start telling me what a moron I am because I didn't figure out that she was alive and turned herself into a goddamn light beam or something to escape. Shit like that. I don't even fucking know. It just never leaves."

Roxy nodded slowly, biting her lip. "It doesn't. They'll never—we'll never stop thinking about them, will we?"

"No," Dave shook his head. "I still think of my bro—that is, my alt universe bro, the one I grew up with—and he died almost three fucking years ago."

"What about Jade?" she asked. Dave raised an eyebrow.

"What about her?"

"You mentioned what reminds you of John and Rose. Do you think of Jade?"

He looked down at the screen, an expression that Roxy couldn't quite interpret crossing his face before he nodded ever so slightly. "Every day. We... we used to make music together. She plays—_played_, fuck... she could play a mean bass line, and she was trying to teach herself flute, earlier..."

"My mom taught me to dance," Roxy blurted. "She was really good at it. We used to dance together, sometimes, too. And then they killed her." How long had it been since she sat and thought about her mother, her actual mother, not her alternate universe momdaughter? Two months, probably. She'd met Rose two months ago. A pang of ... guilt? Was it guilt? Probably. That shot through her, though she wasn't completely sure why. Was it wrong of her to mourn the loss of her second chance more now than she mourned the original loss of her mother? Did that make her a bad daughter?

Well, it didn't matter. She'd failed both Mom and Rose. She'd had the chance to do something for both of them, and she'd failed both times.

_I'm sorry that I couldn't be good enough for you. I'm sorry that I failed you this badly. I'm sorry._

"My brother taught me fencing and all the other fighting shit that I know," Dave said quietly. "But it was Rose that got me to learn about Time."

"You both were really close, weren't you?" Roxy asked softly, and Dave nodded with a little quiet laugh.

"Yeah. Hell, it probably didn't look like it, but we were. Grew up together and all that shit. I mean sure, we made fun of each other all the fucking time, but it was like... only I was allowed to call her names, and only she was allowed to call me names, you know? If someone else tried to call her a creepy-ass sorcerer bitch, I would go beat them up, even though she could totally do that herself because honestly she is—she was a creepy-ass sorcerer bitch. She was the one that got me books and all that stuff about Time magic theory. Same with Jade and Space. See, in our universe, only Space and Time were persecuted, and by that I mean recruited by that goddamn Academy. So she did what she could to protect us."

"Like everyone here is 'recruited' by the College," Roxy murmured, nodding. "I remember when I first found out I had magic. I went over to Dirk's place and got really excited because I didn't even think about the college, I was just so proud that I could make stuff happen. So I went and conjured a ton of candy and I kept throwing at him and laughing, and then I kept conjuring it because I was a stupid little kid, and I didn't realize how the whole restraints thing on magic worked, and I ended up passing out for a couple of minutes. You were there—alternate you, I mean—and as soon as you made sure I was okay, you found the whole thing hilarious. Dirk... he worried the entire time and didn't talk to you for the next week because you laughed at me." She laughed, a watery giggle that betrayed the tears that were perilously close to spilling over, and wiped at her eyes.

"Sounds like something that would've happened," Dave said with a sad little smile that made Roxy want to hug him, so she did, scooting over and wrapping her arms around him.

"I miss them," she muttered into his shoulder. He took a deep breath and nodded slightly against her hair.

"So do I," he murmured.

"I hate this."

"Me too."

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know."

* * *

_AN: Heehee. This chapter was fun to write. Actually, the coming chapters will all be pretty fun! Stuff is happening now, once again, none of that painful angstfluff interlude that I just knew I had to break apart. I did feel really bad for Roxy, though. She's always trying to hold it together for everyone, but ... it didn't really work out, did it? And that was totally out of her control. :c poor Roxy._

_In other news, I was shown "Sweeney Todd" last night and I don't know how I feel about this. :/_

_In other other news, who's excited about the update schedule being out? I know I sure am! :D_

_Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, love you guys :D_


	39. Chapter 39: Rose - Brittle Glass

Rose took several slow, deep breaths—in, out. In, out. It didn't seem to help to calm her shaking hands in the slightest, and they continued to tremble as she held the hot mug in her lap. Next to her in the dimly lit room, John sprawled on the couch with his head on her shoulder, his eyelids drooping precariously, not that she could blame him for that. What he'd done tonight to save their lives took a lot of energy, especially coming out of the blue with no premeditation. Across from them both, Jane sat on the rug wrapped in a blanket. She was quivering too; Rose was almost certain that she was fighting back tears. They all were. It was understandable.

She removed one of her hands from the mug to stroke John's hair, because he was shaking with quiet sobs now and it hurt her heart to see him like this, it really did. It reminded her of how Jade had been after her universal jump, exhausted and grieving and upset beyond measure, and that was something she had hoped to never see again.

John was the only reason the three of them had survived the collapse of the tunnel above their heads. He'd been the last one out of the not-so-secret base as it caved in, screaming Jade's name as the stone and mortar fell, and as it began to give way in front of them too, in the dark where no one could see, Rose had heard Roxy scream just before the heavens started falling, and she and Jane had been petrified, just _knowing _they wouldn't get out of the way in time. In that moment, Rose had found herself clutching the other girl's hand tightly and feeling Jane returning the gesture, just as desperately. And then a huge gust of air—massively forceful and masterfully directed—blew past them, holding the rock at bay above their heads. John couldn't keep up that kind of power for long, though, Rose knew, and she had led Jane by the easiest path that her Light could find to get out of harm's way. John had followed last, letting the huge pile of rubble collapse with a huge _boom_ that echoed in the darkness.

Not knowing where to go or if anyone else had made it out, they had simply retired to Jane's old apartment, just for the night, though they knew they couldn't stay here long. If the supposedly secret base of operations was compromised, it was almost certain that this apartment had not escaped the scrutiny of the enemy. Well, of the _enemies_, Rose amended her thoughts. Those had been Batterwitch forces, not the stealthy ruthlessness of Lord English's. Their struggle was not merely one-way anymore. No, indeed; now it was a complicated, convoluted mess that Roxy would have delighted in analyzing—no, she didn't want to let her thoughts wander down that path, not yet. That shock, that pain was still too raw and fresh. She had to keep her wits about her and that meant she could not allow herself to succumb to sorrow. John and Jane were both already grieving, and that meant she had to remain strong so that they could lean on her if and when they needed to. She would not—_could _not—bend.

Rose Lalonde did not bend. Rose Lalonde could not break.

Not now, not when right here John had his face buried in her shoulder as he shook with sobs of shock and grief and exhaustion, all combined into a whirling maelstrom of emotional overload that he honestly could not deal with. He clung to her with a mirror of the ferocity he'd displayed earlier, when he had kept the rocks from falling on them earlier with massively powerful winds—it took immense strength to have wind keep concrete from falling, and it took immense dexterity to keep those same winds from hurting anyone—and helplessly she stroked his hair and rocked him and soothed him as best as she could, all while ruthlessly crushing any thoughts of her own sorrow and horror. Not now, no. She couldn't afford to let herself grieve. John needed her right now, and she would be damned if she let one of her friends suffer without doing anything about it.

"What... what do we do now?" Jane asked, her voice low, raw and trembling as she looked up with red-rimmed and tearful eyes. She had been very close to Roxy, and of course Dirk, too. But Rose knew that she couldn't allow herself to think of her daughter-mother.

"I don't know," John shook his head, looking helplessly first at Jane and then back to Rose. "I don't know."

"We should get some rest," Rose decided. Pragmatic concerns were still important—arguably the most important of all, even now, or especially now. "We can't stay here long, so we need to leave soon. But first, John, you need to sleep for a few hours. I'll wake you soon."

"Rose..." he trailed off, looking up at her plaintively, and Rose gave him her closest attempt at a smile. It fell flat, though, and they both knew it, even if neither chose to say so aloud.

"I'm right here," she murmured. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Please don't," he replied, hugging her close. "Don't leave me."

Rose felt her heart break for him just a little more, even as she hardened it to her own feelings—Jade, Roxy, Dave... no, she could not mourn, she could not mourn, she could _not_. John was hurting, so she couldn't let herself cry. "I'm not leaving. I promise."

John nodded, biting his lip, and then looked up, over at Jane who was trembling alone on the floor as she stared into the empty depths of her mug. "You too," he said shakily. "I should have—I couldn't—I can't lose you, when I've just found you again," he stammered, incoherent and babbling and about to break down again, and Rose wrapped her arms around him.

"Hush," she murmured, waiting until he relaxed just a little before she held out her hand to Jane, who tentatively came and sat on John's other side. "Go to sleep. We will both be here when you wake."

"I love you," he said immediately, even as he lay down awkwardly with his head in Rose's lap and his legs stretched out across Jane.

"I love you too," Rose tried to smile again, running her fingers through his hair as he closed his eyes, exhaustion and grief taking a heavy toll, and hoped it would be enough.

The next morning, a scarce few hours later, Jane and John were still asleep when Rose roused herself. It was just barely before dawn, and she could feel the pale sky lending itself to her power, replenishing a little of her drained energy. Sometime soon, she needed to truly get some rest and sleep and recover from all the deep Light-filled trances she'd been entering lately, but right now she couldn't afford that. They needed to keep moving until they were safe. On some level she knew that she could keep them safer if she was well-rested, but being a mage of Light always involved taking gambles, and this was one of them—they didn't have the ability right now to allow her to rest and regain her strength as much as she needed to, and she couldn't let on that she was as tired as she was, because she knew John well enough to say that he would try to force her to take a nap, and then everything would probably go to pieces when they stayed here too long. Maybe, if they got to safety by tonight, she could rest.

Speaking of safety... she had to figure out where that would be, didn't she?

With a deep sigh, Rose leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes and opening her inner ones. She wasn't going to initiate a full trance now—that would be more conspicuous, not to mention draining—but she had to Look around and see what they might need to do.

Staying in the Imperial City was obviously not an option. Jane was a fugitive now, a highly valuable one because each side of this conflict, both the Batterwitch's and Lord English's, stood to gain something by capturing her. The irony was that the only reason she was such a potentially lucrative target was that the other side also saw her as desirable. If Lord English didn't desire to regain control over her and whatever information or ability to control the masses she might have had as the Masked Maiden, then the Batterwitch would have no use for her, and if the Batterwitch didn't want to sink her claws into the girl for manipulating public will against Lord English, then Lord English wouldn't have had much need for her either. But as it was, the situation dictated that Jane had to stay away from them both at almost any cost. Plus, past the purely strategic value, Rose knew that she couldn't possibly allow Jane to fall into the hands of either side, not again. She didn't know the other girl that well, but she knew John and she knew Jade, and every time she looked at Jane's haunted blue eyes she saw Jade's tearful green ones as she cried in the dark of night, clinging to Rose's shoulders until the morning came.

So, no, Rose would _not _let anything happen to her. She couldn't fail her friends and family again, not after this night... she didn't even have the energy to trance deeply enough to search for Jade or Dave or Roxy or Dirk. She barely had the strength to see the best path for herself, Jane, and John. Some part of her knew that her exhaustion, and her denial of the depths of that exhaustion, were the primary reason she _hadn't _seen tonight coming, but that didn't at all take away the blame, the guilt. Jade, Dave, Roxy, and Dirk might all have been dead and it would have been her fault for not warning them in time.

But she was letting her tired thoughts lead her down frivolous roads in her mind, not the path of the task at hand. Rose took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, imagining the City in her mind. She took a mental step back, looking at the entire province, then at the globe of Skaia, spinning in the deeps of Space amidst the glimmering stars. It was beautiful to watch, almost hypnotic... but all her years of training in Sight warned her not to stop and stare. Every Seer had heard the horror stories of someone's brother's friend's cousin who went into a trance, even a light one, and never came out, becoming still and unresponsive to all stimuli in the outside world. But Rose was disciplined and she would not do that. Instead, she focused on Skaia and thought _safety, anonymity, surprise, fortune_. Where could they go that would be most safe for Jane? No large cities, but small villages destroyed anonymity. No, the best options she could see were in the wilderness, far from any proper civilization.

Withdrawing from her planet-view, Rose opened her eyes to find herself once again in the dim grey light of the pre-dawn room, John's head still in her lap and Jane against her shoulder. She reached down first, placed a gentle hand on John's cheek.

"Hey," she murmured, lightly shaking him. "We need to start moving, I'm afraid."

He cracked open his blue, blue eyes groggily, looking around with an air of confusion before the memory of what had just happened hit him like a ton of bricks and whatever color he had regained in sleep once again drained from his face. "Oh," he murmured, pushing himself into a sitting position. "Rose..."

Rose cast her eyes down, looking at her hands in her lap. "I am sorry, John—oh," she cut herself off in surprise before she relaxed and smiled slightly into his shoulder, the spontaneous hug unexpected but very welcome. John held her close, both of them careful not to jostle Jane too much, for several long seconds before he slowly pulled away.

"Rose, please," he said, clasping her hands and meeting her gaze in the soft morning stillness. "Don't tell me you're sorry, because there isn't anything for you to be sorry about! You didn't do anything wrong, and I—if they're—I mean—you're all there is—I can't lose you too," he fumbled for the right words, his eyes clouding with bright tears again. Rose slid her hand from his to wipe away one that fell.

"You will not lose me," she promised, keeping her hand pressed to his cheek. "I couldn't... I swear, you will not lose me."

John gave her a small, hesitant and watery smile before he hugged her close again, taking a deep, shuddering breath. He finally pulled away after several heartbeats, reluctant, and then shifted and stood, leaving Jane leaning on Rose's shoulder. "I... yeah. I'll go get some food ready, kay?" Without waiting for a response, he trotted off to the kitchen.

Rose wondered whether he was internally questioning why she wasn't grieving. She'd just lost as much as he had—more, in a way, because at least he still had Jane of his other family, while she didn't have Roxy anymore. He probably thought she was crazy, stoic, even coldhearted; truthfully, though, she was just numb. She was numb and she was repressing her emotions, her grief, and channeling it into drive and direction as best as she could. She was numb and cold, and she was trying to keep it that way.

It hurt. It really, really hurt.

Long ago, almost three years ago, when her mother had died in the same night that had forced them to flee their Imperial City, Rose had nearly succumbed to a terrible thing, the blight of all Seers. It was something they were warned about in classes, and told to fear and shun. This thing had to do with management of emotion and repressing one's own thoughts to allow the Sight to fill them—a dangerous thing in high enough quantities.

For magic was a strange and wild pursuit. No one knew where these strange beings had originated, or when, but in the depths of inner Sight and the common visions that all Seers could channel, if one dove too deep they might run across the Dark Gods, also called the Black Horrors. These were creatures of the imagination, made of fear and pain and grief, and that fed on rage and sorrow. These creatures were known—whispers in the dark, nameless fears—for their strange and terrifying effects on those Seers unfortunate enough to fall into their dark pits.

For a long time, Rose herself had been fascinated by her dark interests, studying and doing research on this intriguing yet forbidden phenomenon. Years passed and she had come to consider herself a veritable scholar in the making on the theory behind the Dark Gods.

And then her mother died, and not one whit of the research and the knowledge in her head could help her as she collapsed into the void, falling and screaming and crying. During the days leading up to it, she'd hidden her sorrow, tried to turn it into anger, transformed her pain into what she thought was an impenetrable defense when it was really a glass barrier, brittle and easily shattered. It had been agony beyond belief for a single, exquisite moment, and then... well, she didn't like to remember the bits and pieces of memories that remained between that delicately suspended second that had lasted an eternity, the moment when she teetered on the brink before falling, and when she'd woken up from the black haze in her thoughts.

Great loss had triggered it last time. Rose never wanted to go through anything like that again, but she would be lying if she said that she didn't think it was possible, didn't sometimes feel the flickers drawing her back down. They were stronger in times like this, when she was upset and hurting—

"Rose?" It was Jane's voice. When had she woken up? Rose jerked herself out of her thoughts, hoping her face hadn't betrayed her emotions as she stuffed them back into a locked chest inside her heart like she always did.

"Hello, Jane," she said carefully, neutrally, with a trace of sympathy in her voice. "John is in the kitchen, did you need him?"

Jane blinked, rubbing her eyes. She looked vaguely surprised at this statement before she shook her head. "Huh? Oh, no, I just wanted to ask... are you okay?"

She didn't add _you looked upset_, for which Rose was grateful. That would have been stupid and unhelpful all around—of course she was upset, they were all upset! They had good reason to be, after all. But more than upset, Rose was so deeply weary she could feel it in her bones, and she couldn't stop thinking that if she'd just—if she could have only not been so _dumb_, so proud—she could have prevented this. "I'm fine—well, that isn't strictly true, I suppose," she sighed. "I'm as close to okay as I can be right now."

Jane was silent for several moments, unsure about something that was obvious in her face as she studied Rose for a few seconds before her gaze dropped to the floor. Her hands, clasped in her lap, lamely twiddled thumbs for a second longer before Rose heard her speak again, her voice raw and low. "You look like her. A lot."

Rose choked for a second, the words that wanted to spill out clogging her throat. "I—" she broke off, not knowing which of those words to choose, which ones would be daggers and which ones would be sweet comfort. _Do you think I will ever be able to look in a mirror without seeing her? Do you think I did not already know that? Do you think that her ghost hasn't already haunted me since she died the first time?_

"I know," she said instead. "Believe me, I know."

* * *

Three weeks later saw them all in a comfortable routine, or at least a routine comfortable enough that they could live with it. The Imperial City was far away, as far as they could get on foot in three weeks, and every morning they would rise, eat, and pack their meager supplies before putting some more distance between themselves and the City.

Jane had been heartbroken when they had left, insisting that they had to at least see Jake before going. Rose could relate—the Imperial City had been her home all her life and she had all her memories of everything happy before everything stopped being good in the same place. Leaving was hard. But they had to, and that was that—there was no way around the fact that Jane couldn't stay in the city. It wasn't safe and if they had any hope of survival, it was elsewhere. They could... they could figure out what to do further when they weren't as endangered as they were close to the walls.

Right now, they were setting up camp for the night. John was walking around the perimeter of the area they'd selected, collecting firewood, while Rose and Jane had just finished setting up the tent they'd bought as they fled the Imperial City's suburbs. Now they sat together on the ground, wrapped in light travelling cloaks. The late spring weather was much preferable to the freezing nights of winter, but as they travelled north the temperatures began to drop again and the warmth of the cloaks was once again coveted.

Rose was beginning to think that soon, she could rest—actually rest, as in allow herself to enter a deep, dreamless sleep that would help to rejuvenate her Light. She hadn't been entering many trances at all recently, as she'd only really been scrying to see the best path ahead, but things were starting to calm down and settle into place again. Now, it would be prudent to refresh herself and rid herself of the cloying exhaustion that often blocked her mind's eye so that she could once again See as well as she had before she'd drained herself over and over, not that it had helped in the end.

"I think we could stay here a few nights," she suggested quietly. Jane, who had been fidgeting with the hem of her cloak, looked up with one eyebrow quirked high in surprise.

"Stay in one place a few nights?" she asked. "I thought that was dangerous. Or at least, that we needed to forever be on the run."

"Well, yes and no," Rose shrugged slightly. "We do what we need to do to survive. That's really the only hard and fast rule of living like this, as you will no doubt know by heart soon. We will make an expert of you yet," she added with a little laugh, ignoring the way it sounded flat even to her.

She still hadn't allowed herself to grieve past crying herself to sleep the fifth night when she had been too tired and relieved to fight the tears. She was keeping the sorrow locked away and she did not want to see it rear its head again. It would not bother her, she would not let it!

"I see," Jane shook her head. "What do we need to stay here for, then?"

"I... I need to rest," Rose said, only realizing after a moment that that explanation was not sufficient—see, this was precisely why she needed that rest. This lack of comprehension on her part was bad. Jane's brow was furrowed and her face was set with skepticism and a dash of bemusement as she regarded her, and Rose felt her cheeks heating just slightly. "I mean—I have been using a lot of magic recently and I haven't had the chance to let it be replenished, and as much as I hate to admit it, it is starting to take a toll on me." A toll, yes, like the whispers that haunted her dreams as she slept restlessly for a few hours each night, the shadows that clouded her Sight during even the most simple of scrying sessions, the phantom fingers tugging her mind back down, down into the dark. This was the worrying toll, not the physical fatigue or her exhaustion. No, she didn't want—she _couldn't_ let herself fall again.

Jane's expression shifted to one of understanding, and too late Rose remembered that the other girl had had similar problems trying to heal Dirk and Dave at the same time, back in the secret base of operations before it had been destroyed. "Oh," she said, nodding several times. "Yes, you do need to rest! Do you want to go lie down? I can take care of dinner when John gets the fire going, no worries!"

"No, no," Rose wondered if her slight laugh this time was more genuine, "it's fine. I just need to sleep properly and regain my energy, that's all, truly. But thank you." She didn't say a word about her worries and fears, not yet. On some level, she knew that she _needed _to, because keeping it all bottled up and not telling anyone hadn't helped her last time... but this was different, she knew the warning signs now! So she knew what to watch for.

... And the thought that she should distance herself from her family was one of those warning signs. She really needed to tell John, at least, about the whispers of her nameless terror.

"Are you sure?" Jane asked, her voice full of concern and her blue eyes wide and filled with warmth. "I mean, shucks, you _have _been doing a lot... you should rest, yes! Take care of yourself too!"

Rose smiled, touched by this for reasons she couldn't quite identify, and looked down at her hands, twisting and twisting the fabric of her traveling dress into a wrinkled mess. She forced them to lie flat, calmly. "I shall do my best to do so," she said, and next to her Jane nodded satisfiedly.

"Hey!" John called across the small campsite, from where he had started the fire from kindling and tended it until it was a decently sized flame. "Come on guys, let's eat!"

Jane hopped to her feet and offered her hand to Rose. Smiling for sure now, the blonde placed her hand in Jane's and was pulled to her feet, and then was further pulled to the fireside.

Rose liked Jane, from what she knew of the other girl. She was sweet and kindhearted, cynical and funny, and even though she was obviously haunted by her experiences she was not letting them keep her down all the time. She might have cried for an hour one day, but that didn't mean that in the next hour as the three of them sat together, she wouldn't crack silly jokes and then giggle slightly. But the fact remained that she'd only really known her for a little over a month, and she didn't feel like explaining her fears with that much detail, not when the memories were so close to the surface.

So instead, she sat down next to John and placed a hand on his knee. He looked over, a slight grin in place, and offered her a plate.

"Hey, Rose," he greeted. "Want food?"

"Yes, but there's something I need to talk to you about tonight," she said quietly.

John turned his body to face her now, a look of affected surprise on his face. "What, you're finally going to tell me rather than trying to hide it?" he asked, taking her hands. "Wow, this is exciting!"

"Tell you—? You mean you know?" she breathed, disbelieving. "I—how?"

John shook his head. "It wasn't hard to guess, and watching you kind of confirmed it. You're... you're not slipping again, are you?"

Across the fire, Jane was looking at them curiously. Rose tried not to care as the queasy feeling of nervousness in her core did a few flip-flops as she shook her head no. "No, no, not... not yet, at least. But... John, I'm so scared that I might, and it makes it worse—" she cut herself off, pressing one hand to her mouth to hold in the tears. Was this the grief hitting her? What happened to locking it away?

John interrupted by pulling her into a hug and just holding her close. "Shhhh, no, don't cry," he soothed as she leaned against his shoulder. "You won't fall. I've got you. I won't let you. Besides, you promised I wouldn't lose you, remember?"

Rose nodded once. "Yes, I know," she said, her voice small, and in that moment she remembered oh so keenly that she _wasn't _an authority on dark magics, that she wasn't the most advanced seer, she wasn't able to be perfect at all. No, she was just a frightened girl of a meager eighteen years who didn't know everything and needed to know enough to keep her friends safe. She didn't know if she could do it.

"Good," John said. "You're gonna be okay, alright? You're going to be fine. And you come tell me if anything at all goes wrong. You're not gonna do this alone this time, kay?"

This would be difficult. Even after almost three years like this, and all her life with her friends at her side, Rose had always tried to hold everything in, to keep her problems as hers and hers alone. But she thought she was starting to see why that was bad.

"Okay," she said, and the volume of the whispers in the dark behind her dropped tenfold, and even though they were still there, for tonight the warmth of the fire and the warmth of the support of the people who would hold her when she was too weak to stand were going to keep the shadows at bay. And tonight, that was more than enough.

* * *

_AN: I'm sorry this took so long to write and publish, wow. But I think most of you already saw my tumblr post explaining this... well for those of you who didn't, I'll summarize it here: between school and mental health, I haven't found much opportunity or motivation to write recently. Updates will be pretty sporadic for a while, I'm sorry D: _

_That being said, I hope this chapter is somewhat good. I wrote a good deal of it when I was running on 3.5 hours of sleep, so... yeah. :P Happy Saturday guys!_

_Oh and also! This is very exciting! Snowy has turned chapter one of this fic into a podfic! You can find it on my tumblr under the magestuck tag! It's amazing and you should all go listen to it :D_

_Thanks for reading and reviewing! You make my day!_


	40. Chapter 40: Jade - Partings

Jade was scarcely aware that she was still holding Dirk upright, that he was still leaning heavily against her. No, her mind was still back in the darkness and dusty air, in the falling rocks that seconds ago had threatened to end her life—seconds ago, she had been with Rose, with Dave, with John.

If they were dead... oh god, if they were dead, she had no idea what she would do! They were everything to her, they were her life and her heart, and she barely knew who she was without them! If they were dead, she didn't know whether she'd want to keep living herself, not like this. Maybe she would leave this universe, too, and go find one where they were alive but she wasn't. Haha, yeah, right, as if. That would never happen and she knew it. It wasn't that easy to change universes, and she'd only been able to do it out of extreme desperation that one time.

Barely aware of the little keening wail that she emitted, Jade sank to her knees in the grass, her eyes wide and glassy with unshed tears. Dirk stumbled and sat down heavily next to her, and his grunt of barely-concealed pain brought her back to herself, away from her thoughts and her grief.

"What the hell... is going on?" he asked with effort, panting slightly. Jade winced—by all rights he ought to still be in a bed, not running around like this. Oh no, though, she realized as she looked at him, he looked far too much like Dave...

"A lot of things," she said carefully, biting her lip to hide a sob. "A lot of shitty, terrible things."

"Yeah, I guessed that much," he muttered. "Care to... care to elaborate?"

Jade sighed, wiped at her eyes, and sat down in the grass, burying her face in her hands for a few moments. "I can try," she started, but didn't go on, not yet, because her thoughts were still too jumbled and incoherent, a mess between shock and sorrow. Being with Dirk didn't help, because his voice reminded her of winter evenings spent building snowmen on the roof of Dave's apartment, snowball fights with Rose and John that he'd mediated, the terrible day when Nanna and Grandpa died and she'd fled to Dave and his bro's apartment, all those memories of her life before things went wrong, and his voice sounded too much like Dave's. Finally, toneless and dazed, she looked up. "You're Dave's brother."

Dirk went eerily still next to her, finally turning his head to look at her from guarded eyes. "Yes. Who are you and what do you know about Dave?"

She laughed without humor. "My name is Jade, and Dave is—was—no, is, he _is_ one of my best friends in the entire universe."

"I've never heard of you," he said flatly. "And my brother has been dead for five years." Now the look he was giving her reeked of mistrust and skepticism, and Jade shook her head.

"What do you know about magic?" she asked instead, looking at him. He didn't respond for several seconds, probably weighing the answer in his mind—here magic was illegal, after all, and if he said several of his friends were mages to a complete stranger like herself, he might get them in trouble. She understood that feeling well. So to placate his suspicions, she held up a hand and let some green sparks fly from her fingers, dancing into the night until they faded to nothing.

Dirk looked surprised at that, and then it was almost as if there were gears turning in his mind as his expression shifted. Jade could practically see the moment he realized that she was an outlaw, just like him, and the moment that he realized that he was, technically an outlaw now, too.

"I know some," he finally admitted. She had a hunch that that wasn't all there was to it, not by a long shot, but she would humor him for now. "What does that have to do with my brother?"

"Bear with me for a moment," she said with a quirk of her lips that once upon a time might have almost been a smile, holding her hands up placatingly. "What do you know about the different schools of magic, if anything?"

He was silent for several seconds until he shrugged one shoulder, shaking his head with his lips pressed together in a thin line—yes, that was right, she'd almost forgotten how much he hated not knowing things.

"Your brother was a Time mage, was he not?" Jade asked, tilting her head to the side. Dirk stiffened.

"How the hell did you know that?" he demanded, breaking off into a cough after a second of ferociously staring her down. Jade hurriedly tried to imagine the last place she'd seen water, a market stall, and with a mental apology to the owner, she stole a bottle that materialized in her palm with a green flash and handed it to him.

Once he'd drunk his fill, he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and frowned. "Also, I notice you said 'was' that time."

"You _are _an astute one," Jade sighed, pushing away more memories with effort as she wrapped her arms around her knees almost defensively. "So do you know what the counterpart to Time is?"

Dirk didn't say anything, probably thinking, and Jade shook her head.

"It really isn't as hard a question as you might think," she said with a brittle, humorless laugh. "It's Space."

"Oh," he muttered. "That's fucking obvious as hell."

"Yes, it is," she agreed, a flicker of a smile crossing her face for the barest of seconds. "That's what I am—that's where the bottle came from. I'm not a conjurer, I'm a Space mage, and to be frank I'm a ridiculously powerful one."

"And totally not an egotistical one at all," Dirk observed sarcastically, the skeptical expression on his face saying even more than the words.

Jade rolled her eyes. "Look, I didn't start out this way, I never asked for as much power as I have, and if I could, I'd give it all back, because the way I got it was unnatural and horrible and I really, _really _don't want to go there right now! That is a story for another day, when the sun is out and it's not this _dark_—" No, she couldn't allow herself to go back into those memories. Those would make her into a shivering, sobbing and incoherent wreck, and right now there really wasn't anyone who could pull her out of that state, so she had to push those as far away as she could. Even if it meant by thinking of things that would make her sad, like ... like thinking of John, and the time they'd been playing on the island and built a sandcastle decorated with seashells, and then he'd run off and come back with a messy crown made from twisted leaves and vines, placed it on her head with childlike precision, and proclaimed her the princess of the castle.

A tear fell. Jade ignored it.

"Anyway," she said after a moment. "The basic story is that I didn't originally come from this universe. Something that you can do as a too-powerful Space mage is teleportation not between worlds, but between universes, and that's what I did. And I brought my brother and my two best friends with me. My name and my brother's name won't mean anything to you, but my best friends' names will. They are Rose Lalonde and Dave Strider."

"What the _fuck_," Dirk breathed. "What do you mean? That's Roxy's mother—wait, where the hell is Roxy? And Jane! Is Jane okay?" The panic in his body as he scrambled to try to stand was evident, and Jade felt awful for him as she pulled him back down, pinning him to the ground without much effort in his current weak state.

"I don't know," she said quietly. "I don't know where they are, I don't know whether any of them are, I don't know if they're okay. All I know is that as of tonight, you're the only one I have left, and I'm sorry but I really can't let you go. I—I can't."

Dirk stopped struggling after a moment, his eyes squeezed shut against the tears threatening him. Jade pretended not to see as he gritted his teeth and tried not to cry, just keeping one hand resting gently on his shoulder in quiet solidarity.

"A lot of shit happened in our universe," she continued softly, trailing her other hand through the soft grass in the moonlight. "My grandpa and grandma—who, by the way, were named Jake and Jane—died in a house fire that our version of the Batterwitch set, intending for me. Dave's brother—that was you—was killed not a month later, in an attack meant for him too, but he wasn't home, the same way I hadn't been. That was because we were both Space and Time respectively—those two are rare arts to begin with, and the Batterwitch wanted to control us. She didn't know much about my brother John, but she managed to trace the theft of Space and Time materials to Rose and her mother Roxy, and not too long after that Rose's mother died the same night we had to flee the city because of a huge crackdown on mages like us, who were hiding our talents from the Empress. That was almost three years ago, and we had been on the run since. Eventually, they nearly caught us, and I didn't want anyone to fall into captivity and be tortured, so I moved us to this universe, and by total coincidence we ran into your Roxy one day, and she introduced us to Jake, too."

Here she paused, looking at Dirk for his reaction. But as usual, the Strider mask of imperviousness was back in place and his expression was inscrutable, so she just sighed before continuing.

"We found out about you and Jane, and all this rebellion stuff, and me, John, Dave, and Rose got you guys out. Jane's the reason you're alive right now. And everything was great until tonight—I don't know what happened, I don't know how it happened, all I know is that the Empress found us again and now I've lost _everyone_, and—" she broke off, her hand flying away from his shoulder to scrub at her own eyes before more tears could escape.

Dirk shifted, awkwardly placing his hand over hers. "I... uh, sorry," he muttered, an endearing little flush heating his face as he determinedly stared at a patch of grass about seven feet away.

It wasn't okay, it would never be okay, so Jade didn't say "It's okay". Instead, she just nodded once, trying to smile as best as she could. "Yeah... I'm sorry, too," she murmured.

"What's your name, anyway?" he asked, and she blinked in surprise—had she forgotten to say that? "Also, if Dave is my bro and Roxy is Rose's mom and also her daughter or whatever, who are you?"

Oops, she really was bad at introductions, wasn't she? "Sorry," Jade shook her head, a sheepish chuckle escaping her. "My name is Jade, Jade Harley. But the version of me who lived in this universe was named Jade English. I was Jake's grandmother. My brother was Jane's grandfather, John."

Dirk considered this information for a few moments, then nodded. "That actually... fuck, this whole outlandish story kind of makes sense. Jake said his grandmother was some kind of mage with green teleportation powers and shit. Holy shit."

"It is a lot to take in, I know," she smiled slightly, and then immediately felt guilty for allowing herself to even be happy at all after the terrible events of this awful, awful night.

"So, uh... what are we supposed to do now?" Dirk asked, sounding plaintive and pitiful, nothing like the pride she used to know. Unable to help herself, Jade wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly, until her breaths were stable and she didn't think she was going to choke on one of the sobs building in her throat. John had to be alright, her brother was okay, he couldn't be dead he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't—and Dave and Rose were okay, they had to be! They all had to be okay!

"I'm not sure," she admitted, her voice low and trembling just slightly. Dirk carefully wrapped his arms around her too, resting his chin atop her head. "I guess... it's back to the life on the run. I would say alone, but you're coming with me, right?"

"I don't think I have much of a choice," he admitted, offering her a wan smile. "Either that, or I stay here and fucking die."

Jade winced. "Please don't do that, I would hate it if you did."

Dirk snorted. "Yeah, me too. There's still shit I want to get done before I go down."

"We're not going down for a while yet," Jade shook her head. "And when we do, it had better be guns blazing."

Dirk let out a single bark of laughter. "I can see how you're related to Jake," he said tonelessly.

Jade sat up suddenly. "Jake," she breathed. "He wasn't there! He wasn't in the Underground—I mean, the Tunnels—tonight! He's alive!" A marvelous thrill of hope shot through her as she grabbed Dirk's hand, only stopping to look at him with mild concern for a moment. "Do you feel okay?"

"Been better," he shrugged slightly. "Been worse, too. I can manage. Why?"

"We're going to go see Jake," she said, just before the clearing dissolved into green.

* * *

Despite the late hour of the night, Jake was awake and anxiously pacing the floor of his apartment when they both appeared in Jade's flash of emerald energy. At the exact moment they appeared, he was peering out from the window that faced the center of town—plumes of smoke and flame could faintly be seen, and surely the explosions could have been heard from here, too.

"Jake?" Jade asked, and he whirled around, fumbling at his hip for pistols that weren't there, a split second before his eyes widened and he all but tackled them both in a hug.

"Jade! And Dirk, oh my goodness, you're _alive_, you're alright!" he gasped, crushing them both in a hug, and if she hadn't been suppressing her own tears Jade might have laughed. As it was, she buried her face in his shoulder and clung to him for several moments, breathing in and letting herself relax a little bit because no matter that this was another universe and he wasn't really her grandfather, as she stood in this dimly lit apartment in the warm yellow glow against the dark wooden flooring and clung to Jake, he still felt like _home_.

Next to her, she could feel the tension draining out of Dirk as well, and impulsively she hugged him tighter too, because these two boys, these silly little boys who were only a year her elder, if even that, were all she had left—she wouldn't lose hope that the others were alive, had gotten out while she saved Dirk, but she didn't know how to even start to go about finding them, and she couldn't let go of these two, she just _couldn't._

After several long seconds, they finally released each other, Jade looking at her two companions and blinking back tears. Jake looked from her over to Dirk, shaking his head as he marvelled at the other.

"I can scarcely believe it," she heard him murmur, taking Dirk's hand for a moment. "You're truly well again?"

"Something like that," Dirk snorted humorlessly, and Jake hugged him fiercely again. Jade almost laughed at the look of surprise on Dirk's face, but she still didn't feel up to joy at anything, so she just clasped her hands behind her back and smiled at them.

Jake finally released his friend, still looking a little awestruck, before his dazed grin faded and he turned back to Jade, taking her hands. "What happened? I heard the explosions and you can still see the fires from here! I was so terribly worried! Where are the others?"

Jade winced, squeezing his fingers to hopefully get him to stop speaking for a moment. "I... don't know where they are," she forced herself to say, averting her eyes to the floor so she didn't have to see the spark of joy dimming in his face. "I'm sure they're alright, but Dirk and I got split up from everyone else, and I don't know where they are."

"Oh..." Jake murmured, seeming to deflate. Jade bit her lip and slowly met his gaze. Something in her still hated the thought of disappointing him, of making him sad, because part of her said this was one of the two authority figures in her life, but she knew he felt the same way around her—and most of all, she knew she loved him just as much as she'd loved her grandfather, and he loved her just as he'd loved his grandmother. It was an odd relationship to be sure, but she wouldn't have had it any other way.

So she leaned in and wrapped her arms around him again, this time hushing his tears before they had a chance to start as she ran her fingers through his hair and murmured soothing words for several seconds. Jake hugged her tight and didn't let go, and after a few seconds they both reached out and pulled Dirk into the embrace too.

When they eventually released each other, Dirk swayed slightly and quickly sat down on the solitary armchair in the room, one hand pressed to his temple. Jake and Jade immediately were concerned.

"Are you okay?" she asked, Jake echoing the words. Dirk nodded once.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Dizzy spell. Sorry. I'm fine."

Jade and her grandfather-grandson exchanged skeptical looks over his head. "Like hell you are," Jake snorted. "You just stay put, my friend! I'll go get you a glass of water, just a tic." He patted Dirk's shoulder and hurried off to the kitchen. Jade sat down on the armrest next to Dirk and placed a hand on his knee.

They were silent for a few moments, the only sound that of the running water in the kitchen.

"What was it like to see him happy?" Dirk suddenly asked, and Jade blinked, startled.

"What?"

"What was it like," he repeated almost impatiently, "to see my brother happy? He was almost never happy, in what I remember of him, especially towards the end. Small wonder, that, honestly—they fucking executed him, after all."

His shoulders were slightly hunched and the hand that his head wasn't resting on was curled into a fist. Even though she wasn't touching him Jade could see the tension in his body again, and hoping to placate that at least a little, she took the fist in both of her hands and slowly uncurled his fingers, spreading them out over her palm and stroking the back of his hand.

"When Dave is happy..." she murmured thoughtfully. "When he's really, truly happy, he gets this big, goofy grin, and he actually laughs, a lot. Usually he doesn't laugh, he sort of does this skeptical snort thing or a half-smile that doesn't really say anything. When he laughs, though, it's really bright and warm. He doesn't show his emotions a lot, but if you're close to him and you make him happy, it's really contagious," she smiled slightly, her eyes misting over in recollection. Dirk's hand had loosely closed around hers as she spoke, and some of the tightness had drained from his posture.

Jake took that moment to come back into the living room, a cup of water and a plate of small refreshments in his hands. "Here," he said, placing the plate on the small table in front of the armchair. "Have something to eat, and we can talk."

Jade smiled at Dirk, and to her joy he returned it—the barest hint of a flicker of a smile, but it was more than she'd hoped for, and it made her feel a little warmer inside.

She took one of her hands from his to pick up a cookie from the tray, breaking it in half and offering him a piece. He took it wordlessly and after a moment took a small bite, and Jade turned back to Jake, keeping her other hand in Dirk's and hoping that he knew she had no intentions of letting go anytime soon.

"What do we do now?" Jake asked her, sitting down on the floor and looking up at her earnestly.

Jade bit her lip.

This was a thought she'd been suppressing for a while because she didn't want to think about it, not one bit. It made her sad and upset all over again to consider, but it was one that had to be voiced, no matter how much she hated it. It would ruin the quiet bittersweetness of this moment, the tentative peace after the terrible night, but there was no way around it, not if she wanted to do what was best for Jake, not if she wanted him to be safe.

"It isn't what _we _do now," she said hesitantly, placing her other hand on his shoulder. Dirk looked up in surprise for a second, then as comprehension dawned over him she saw him nod once resolutely from the corner of her eye. "It's what Dirk and I do now."

"But—" Jake began, only to be cut off.

"She's right, bro," Dirk said. "I know you don't like it, and I don't want to have to leave you behind all alone like this, but you'll be safer without us. The Batterwitch doesn't know you're one of us."

"But I—"

"Jake, please," Jade pleaded. "I know it hurts, but it's not all bad! You'll be safer, and it's not like Dirk and I can't visit like we are now! I promise we'll keep in touch, but we can't take you with us, it wouldn't be fair."

"Besides," Dirk added before Jake could slip a word in edgewise, "this way you can stay close to the capital and keep us informed, keep things moving, whatever's going on."

"But you're all I have left!" Jake burst out, finally able to get his words said, and Jade froze.

"Jake..." she murmured, looking at Dirk for a fleeting moment before she let go of his hand slowly to slide from the armrest to the floor and wrap her arms around the other boy, drawing him close. He clutched at her desperately.

"Don't leave me," she heard him say, the ghost of a whisper, and she pressed him as tightly to her as she could.

"Jake," she murmured again, kissing his hair, "I don't want to put you through this. A life on the run from the Empress is terrible. There's no real reprieves, only constant fear, and pain. I don't want to see it hurt you. Please stay here, stay under her radar, stay safe. She doesn't know about you."

"I don't care!" he exclaimed, jerking his head up to look at her with watery emerald eyes, so similar to her own. "I can't bear the damned thought of having to stay here on my own! What good could it possibly do to leave me behind like this?"

"It won't be forever," she promised quickly. "I swear, it won't be forever. We'll get into a routine, find good places to stay, safe places, and then we'll come back for you. And we'll come see you often, I promise. But right now, you're not a fugitive. It's awful, it really, truly is—and that isn't even mentioning what happens if you get caught. It's not worth the risk!"

"But there's nothing I could do here either, I don't want to live all alone without any of you—I don't even know if I'll ever see Jane or Roxy again, and now you and Dirk, too—" he cut himself off, and Jade carefully thumbed away a tear from his cheek. Behind her, Dirk shifted.

"Jake," he said, "look. I know it's hard, and it's not what you want. But dammit listen to her for a second, will you? It fucking makes sense. Trust me, if we could stay here, I'd be down for that in a heartbeat. But we're gonna have to run because the Batterwitch kind of wants my head on a pike right now, I'd wager, and Jade isn't even supposed to exist here! We won't leave you forever, bro, I promise."

Jade nodded, turning back to Jake. Another thought had just struck her, and she gently rested her forehead against his, looking into his eyes. "There is something important you can do here, too," she said softly. "The Batterwitch thinks she's defeated us once and for all. And now, I don't know where Roxy is. So I need you to take up her mantle. Can you do that for me?"

Jake's eyes watered, and he pulled back to wipe at them. "I..." His shoulders slumped, but he met her gaze and nodded solemnly. "Fine. I can do that. I will."

Jade hugged him tightly, hoping that she could remember this warmth whenever her heart felt like it was ice that was shattering into little fragments and shards of grief. "Thank you."

"What will you do now?" Jake asked her, squeezing her just as tightly.

"We'll go run away, cause some havoc, wreck some shit, and be outlaws," Dirk snorted, coming to join them on the floor and wrapping his long arms around them both.

"Sounds like a plan," Jake snorted. Jade laughed and ruffled his hair.

"I think so too," she said.

And after they left, they indeed proceeded to run away, hand in hand, into the forest outside the City, back to the campsite. There they gathered what meager supplies were to be found, and decided to just sit and talk and get to know each other.

A shared interest was acknowledged. A mutual passion was discovered. A plan was agreed upon.

The Prince was finally back, and shit was going to be wrecked.

* * *

_AN: Man, you all thought I'd forgotten about my lovely baby Jake! As if I'd ever do that, I love him too much!_

_This arc, omg. This arc is going to be soooo fun to write! I think I'm finally rediscovering my Magestuck muse, too - it's taken long enough, wouldn't you say? :P I don't know how much I'll be able to write over next week, as that's Thanksgiving Break and I'll be being social for a good while, haha, but hopefully updates will start becoming more frequent again._

_Speaking of Magestuck, I don't remember if I've mentioned it or not but "Ready Aim Fire" by Imagine Dragons is one of my theme songs for this AU. You should give it a listen!_

_Thanks for all the support for this fic! You guys are my inspiration to keep writing!_


	41. Chapter 41: Roxy - Rainfall

It was raining today.

The water was slowly rolling down the glass of the windowpanes in little transparent beads that rounded and distorted the world, as if maybe by bending the light they could make they grey clouds more appealing to Roxy's eyes. Beyond the glass the skies were dull and cool in their distance, the lights of the city swallowed up in the gloom. It seemed fitting, she thought as she lay on the couch and stared absently out at the streets, one hand idly tapping the cool glass.

Here she was, six weeks later, and yet nothing felt right. Still, not a day went by when she didn't find herself thinking of Jane, of Dirk, and of Jake—oh, Jake, left back in the Imperial City. She wanted to contact him, but Dave had shaken his head, saying that it would be dangerous to them both to do so, and no matter how reluctant she was to agree, she understood why. It wouldn't make sense for a middle-class, upper district style computer specialist with an interest in writing to contact a lower district resident who worked in the factories in a city she supposedly had never set foot in.

But that didn't mean she could ever stop wondering, dreaming, wishing. She hoped he was alright. She missed him so, so much...

And that wasn't even mentioning Dirk, Jane, or Rose, or even Jade and John. Even though she hadn't known the latter as long as the former, she'd gotten pretty close to them over the short span of time they'd lived together—but honestly, was it possible to spend a month living with people and _not _get close to them, especially when they were long-lost family? No, she didn't think so indeed. She just really wanted them back.

Today at work had been a slow day, as not that many people were out and about due to the dismal weather, grey and dreary and cool and rainy. They'd closed early and gone home, splashing about in the water-filled streets as they ran through the rain. She'd laughed some then, because splashing around in the puddles was fun, but then she'd thought about the third time she'd seen Jane, when they were children playing in the park on a rainy day just like this—and just like that, the laughter choked up into tears, and the rain was sorrowful again.

Moving on was hard. Roxy thought she already knew that from the first time she'd lost her mother—and it wasn't like she could ever forget the memory of the day of the execution, of seeing her mother, proud and cold and elegant as jagged ice until the end, crumple to the ground in a small, fragile heap, blood soaking through her clothes from the "ceremonial gunshot" as Roxy stood in the crowd, unable to tear her wide, horror-stricken eyes away—but it seemed that time dulled the memories of the pain. She had forgotten exactly how much it hurt to move on, how much it felt like the very act of healing was a betrayal of the people she'd lost, how much it ... how _hard _it was!

She blew out a breath, a long sigh really, and kept watching the drops rolling down the glass in their sad little streams. Part of her was tempted to open the window and stick her head out and just feel the rain on her face, but that would be silly and would probably just get water in the apartment and ruin the carpet, and overall it wouldn't be worth the momentary satisfaction she would get for allowing herself to act like a little girl in school again.

Just then, the door let out a soft chime, letting her know Dave was home. She rolled over to face the entryway, pushing herself into a sitting position, and waved once.

"Hey," he said, shrugging off his light jacket and dropping it on the side table after he kicked off his shoes. He ambled toward the couch and Roxy curled her legs to allow him room to sit, then rolled over and laid her feet across his lap.

"How did it go today?" she asked blandly. He was a bit damp and cold from the weather, she noticed, and his posture seemed to match hers—tired, drained, bored. But he sat up a bit at her question, and she ceased her mild scrutiny to look at him questioningly, propping her head up on one arm to do so more effectively.

"Well," he started, stroking his chin, "you know I'm trying to mix this shit up and go for a different style than normal, since it'd be weird to have me and old me from this universe and we don't want anyone drawing parallels, right?"

Roxy nodded. It was true, his original music sounded a lot like... well, his music sounded like his music. That was pretty much how this worked, right? She'd talked to Rose and discovered that the other girl had had drafts of novels that she'd never published—the precursors to _The Complacency Of The Learned_. But they definitely didn't need anyone noticing how similar Dave's music was to Dave Strider's work, considering their current circumstances and all that.

"So I'm doing whatever this new style is, and apparently people like that," Dave continued, "because not only did one of the songs go viral pretty much overnight, but I've got another meeting with a record label dude tomorrow. So we're gonna be raking in the big bucks soon, at this rate."

"Wonderful," she said tonelessly. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for him, because she was—but money was small comfort compared to the hole in her heart. "Which song?"

Dave was silent for just a second, and that was enough to tell Roxy that it was an answer pertaining to their lost friends. He'd written songs for each of them—disguised in vague and flowery language, sure, but there were songs about light and breezes and stars—and compiled those into an album, the one he'd finally gotten on the market. Apparently that had gotten popular. Suddenly she was wondering which of their friends everyone was missing without realizing it.

"Jade's," he said eventually. "Rose's, too, kind of, but not as much."

Roxy didn't respond immediately, chewing at her lower lip in thought as she considered her "brother". Jade's song had been her personal favorite of the ones he'd written, one about love and loss—those, Dave had said, were the two things that the music industry always ate up, and it was great to combine them into a single song. Well, he'd been right about that, considering that this was the song that had become a hit. But the thing here was just how... genuine it was. That song had been from the heart and she could tell on first listen. Sure, he'd framed it with romance and vagueness, to make it less personally about Dave Strider, but that didn't stop her from wondering. "Did you... did you love her?" she asked at length. "I mean, romantically."

Dave shrugged halfheartedly, leaning back again, and ran his hands through his hair. It was a nervous, frazzled habit that she'd noticed in him—Dirk shared that habit, too. It was strangely familiar, and yet not. "I ... I don't know. Maybe. I might have. I might still be. I don't know. Fuck..."

That response, unclear as it was, told Roxy all she wanted to know, plus more. Sure, her actual question remained mostly unanswered, but now it was apparent that he was hurting and that would not do, so she pushed herself into a sitting position and used that momentum to loop her arms around his shoulders, drawing him into a tight embrace. After a moment, he relaxed against her, letting out a deep sigh.

"I think we might have... we might have had a chance," he continued after a long moment. "We've been best friends for, what, eleven or twelve years now, and I guess it was always like... it was always me and her, and John and Rose. She was always my date to all the school dances, we were really cool with each other, all that. And yeah, I guess... maybe I did at some point fall for her. I don't really know. But I guess it doesn't fucking matter now, does it?"

Roxy hummed noncommitally, patting his shoulder as she considered what words to next say. What he'd just told her didn't truly surprise her, now that she thought about it, given how close he and Jade had been, and the way the two of them acted around each other, always tender and sweet even when they were teasing and joking around. That could be characteristic of good friends, or of good friends who might have been in love with each other. But as sad as it was, as much as she hated to agree, he was right—it didn't really matter now. Jade was gone.

"When I was little, I had the biggest crush on Jane," she admitted after a second. "I outgrew that eventually, and for the longest time, I... I thought maybe, me and Dirk, maybe we could be something, you know? Because we were super close, and I admired him a lot, and he's—I mean, he'd always been there when I needed someone, and... but then I guess that faded with time, too. And that's good, because it never would have happened anyway."

It felt nice to say that out loud, to admit that she'd had those crushes. She'd never told anyone before, not really, though Jane had somewhat suspected her affections for Dirk at some point. Maybe this was the feeling of letting go?

Honestly, Roxy knew that she really, really wanted to find romance and that kind of love one day. All her dreams of her own future included marriage, settling down, and being able to laugh every day because she knew she had someone who loved her and valued her just as much as she did them. Having best friends was great, but... she wanted that, too.

"So, in conclusion," Dave interrupted her thoughts as he pulled away, straightening again, "everything sucks and romance is bullshit."

"Pretty much," Roxy laughed, because laughter was better than sorrow. "Damn, that's pretty much spot-on. Good job, I think you've figured it out."

He snorted. "Yeah, I'm just that cool. I have it _all _figured out."

"Of course you do," Roxy raised an eyebrow at him. Dave stared at her for a second, until she blinked, withdrawing a bit in confusion. "What?"

"You... look a lot like Rose when you do that," he answered, still staring at her. "Especially combined with one of those goddamn sarcastic comments."

"I... oh," she dropped her gaze to her hands, fidgeting together in her lap. "I... sorry?"

Looking like Rose wasn't something she could help, not exactly, but it still gave her mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was glad that she resembled her daughtermom, because it meant in some weird way that Rose was still with her, every time she looked in the mirror—that probably made absolutely zero sense, but it made her feel better, okay? But on the other hand, every time she looked in the mirror, she remembered that she had failed, she had failed Rose utterly and irrevocably, just like she had failed Dirk and Jane and Jade and John. It hurt to think about, but it was honestly more than just a little true.

"Nah, what are you apologizing for?" Dave asked, shaking his head. "You're her mom slash daughter or whatever. It would be weird as hell if you _didn't _look like her."

"Yeah, true," Roxy smiled wanly. "Same way you look like Dirk."

"Yeah," Dave nodded slowly. "Same way."

They lapsed into silence. Roxy found herself contemplating the rainy window again, watching the dreary grey drops roll down the cool pane, each one of them warping the dreary grey sky and the dreary grey city that the glass showed. It was more than a little depressing, and on a whim she pushed herself up, waltzing over to the light switch, and flicked the warm yellow lights on. That was much better.

Dave looked up at the change, meeting her gaze with a bare half-smile as she sat back down on the other end of the couch. "How was your day?" he asked.

"Um," Roxy thought about it. "Kind of boring. Rainy, wet, long, tiring, you know, the usual," she shrugged. "Oh, except that Gaen asked me out. Said we could go to this bar he knows tonight."

Dave stiffened ever so slightly, narrowing his eyes at her. "What did you say?"

She waved one hand at him placatingly. "Told him I don't drink. Maybe something else, another night." She wouldn't deny that she hadn't thought about alcohol again, that she hadn't been tempted to go drown her sorrows in a bottle and once again lose herself so thoroughly that she stopped grieving, completely preoccupied with trying to find herself again instead. But she had also managed to quash those thoughts. She was _not _going to do that to herself. Not again. It had been bad enough the first time.

Over on his end of the couch, Dave relaxed again. "Good," he said. "Stay away from that shit. Which one is Gaen again?"

Roxy laughed. "He's the kinda tall one, dark hair, freckles, blue eyes, you know? He works the afternoon shift with me. Always happy, that guy." He was really nice, and they were friends already, even though they had only known each other a little over a month (six weeks and two days, to be precise. Yes, she was keeping track). On his birthday last week, he'd brought cake for all the employees on the afternoon shift, which had been totally sweet—pun intended. She would need to take things slow, sure, but she was willing to give him a chance, no matter how much it hurt to ignore the ghosts of her old friends, no matter how much it felt like she was betraying their memories by moving on, no matter how awful she felt about the whole thing and about being possibly in love again when Dirk was gone.

But she wasn't in love yet, she was going out with him tentatively as a friend or something, tomorrow night, and she and Dirk would never have worked out anyway. She had to realize this, and move on.

"Oh, that one," Dave nodded. "Gotcha. You like him?" He seemed pretty relaxed, this line of questioning notwithstanding, and for that Roxy was glad. She had a feeling Dirk would have been much more overprotective here—knowing him, he'd probably have assigned a robot to watch poor Gaen for a month now, and then would go do five background checks! ...wait, no, she had to stop thinking about Dirk now, she really did.

"I... I don't like him romantically yet," Roxy said after a moment's consideration. "But I think I definitely could, if I had some time, you know?"

"Yeah," Dave said. "I know. Well, if he makes you happy, that's great. You going out tonight?"

"No," she shook her head. "Tomorrow night, we're going out for dinner."

He stood then, walking towards the kitchen. "Sounds good. I'm gonna make some hot cocoa, because shit like that rainstorm always means hot cocoa as far as I'm concerned. Want some?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Roxy laughed after him. "Hot cocoa sounds _amazing._"

Dave cracked a grin at her from over the countertop. "Yeah, no kidding," he said wryly, getting two mugs from the cabinet and measuring out some milk.

"Wanna go ahead and make some dinner while we're at it?" she asked, rolling off the couch to join him in the kitchen. "We can put on a movie, have hot cocoa, blankets, and hot food, and call it an early night. Whaddya say?"

"I say," Dave held up one hand dramatically, though the effect was a little bit ruined by the mug of milk in that hand, "that that's the best damn plan I've heard in a while, and we are totally doing that shit. We are making that happen."

Roxy giggled, pushing aside the sadder thoughts from earlier with almost no effort now. "Aw yeah, it's def the best way there is to spend rainy evenings, let me tell you, bro."

"I wasn't questioning it," he looked over at her. "Marshmallows or whipped cream?"

"Both," she said as though it should have been obvious, which it really should have. "Both is good. Add a fuckton of marshmallows, and then a second fuckton of whipped cream."

"Two fucktons of extra sugar and shit, coming right up," Dave saluted with two fingers, turning back to the mugs in front of him to finish stirring the chocolate in before he added a few liberal scoops of marshmallows to one of them and topped both off with truly ridiculous heaps of whipped cream. "What's for dinner?"

"Something quick," Roxy shrugged, reaching around him to snag a fingerful of cream. "We have leftover bread, wanna eat that with cheese or something?"

"Sure, why not," Dave shrugged. "We can make toast and add cheese. This is fucking beautiful. It's the height of junk food without actually being junk food—it's like the closest thing there is to junk food while eating responsibly."

"Because it's really fast and easy to make?" she laughed, getting the half-loaf from its box and opening a drawer to find the breadknife.

"Exactly," Dave said. "Other than that, what's the definition of junk food? It's the shit you eat when you're too lazy for anything more elaborate."

"Man, Jane would have a _fit _if she saw us now," Roxy snorted, only realizing what she'd said after the words were already out. But no, she was not going to go back to being hopelessly sad, no she was not, not right now! She and Dave had dinner plans, dammit!

"So would Nanna Egbert," Dave added, just a second too late to pretend that he hadn't noticed her little slip. "Damn, she would be so mad. I can hear it—'Dave, why do you always try to live on a diet of crackers and apple juice? It's okay as a snack, I suppose, but really, dear, you need more substantial food than that! At least eat some bread sometimes! You can't live on a diet like that, it is terribly unhealthy!'"

"I feel like you're not pretending there, you're quoting," Roxy teased, ruthlessly quashing the thoughts of Jane and the terrible ache that her absence left, and pretending that she didn't feel awful about that. "But seriously? Crackers and apple juice?"

"Hey, dude, don't diss the apple juice," Dave held up both hands. "Apple juice is the _shit_."

"I was more concerned about the crackers," she laughed. "I'd get sick of those super fast!"

He shrugged, shaking his head. "That's a goddamn shame. Did Bro never have a crazy collection of junk food in this universe? We had a closet full of that shit back home, it was insane."

"If he did, he never shared it," Roxy shook her head too, imitating his gesture before she cracked a grin. "But oh well. Toast's ready, here's the cheese!"

"Fuckin' fantastic," Dave said. "Cocoa's ready too."

"Hey, what movie are we watching?" Roxy asked, dividing the food into two plates. "Here you go," she added, passing one of them to him.

Dave accepted the plate, trading it for the marshmallow-laden mug of hot cocoa. "Thanks. I dunno, whatever shitty movie is on? We can talk about how unbelievably terrible it's gonna be."

"Sounds good," Roxy agreed as they both exited the kitchen, heading back to the couch. She set her plate and mug down to grab a thick blanket from the closet, coming back to the couch to spread it over the two of them. Dave grabbed the remote and turned on the viewing screen. The news was on, and they both paused to watch for a few seconds.

_"—__dangerous anarchist rebels. While their number is still unclear, you should not worry! Our glorious Empress has everything under control, and things will be back to normal very soon. The hack, which our correspondents tell us was hasty and ill-planned, did not permanently damage anything and no important information was stolen, so there is no need to panic. If you have any information about these anarchists, please contact—"_

Dave switched the channel, rolling his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder why we even still have these fucking news reports. I'm pretty sure all of that was bullshit."

"Well," Roxy considered, licking the top of her tower of whipped cream, "I think it's interesting that there even was a news report on whatever that was—someone hacked the Batterwitch, huh? Because if it didn't impact people widely, they would have just covered it up. So whoever they are, they were smart enough to target a sector of her info feed that would have been obvious."

"Hm," Dave shrugged. "Anyway, here's some movie—holy shit is this one of those ridiculous fucking cheesy-as-hell romance movies? We are so watching this."

Roxy stared at the display for several seconds before she burst into laughter, and it was definitely a great accomplishment that she didn't spill her hot cocoa. "We are _so _watching this," she said, trying to control the giggles bubbling out, and settled in against Dave to carry out their brilliant evening plans.

Moving on was hard, but it wasn't impossible. Maybe it was even doable.

* * *

_AN: Why am I updating at 2 in the morning? We just don't know._

_Ummm... let's see, what was the commentary I wanted to give this chapter? I don't remember... oh wait! Yeah, I made a tumblr post explaining this in more detail, but basically, I think there is a high probability that romance will be a thing, at least hinted at, in this story. Because that's where the characters sometimes go, and I can't write accurately if I just totally ignore that and treat it as taboo, even though they wouldn't._

_Anyway! Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, ilu :D_


	42. Chapter 42: Jade - Under Stars

_"__Hostiles spotted at Entry Forty-Two B! I repeat, hostiles sp—_"

The guard's communicator smashed to the ground with a loud _crack_, fizzling with electricity for a moment as it fell in two pieces. Dirk proceeded to bash the man's head in with the hilt of his sword, using the surprise his sudden appearance from above had generated to his advantage. Behind the guard, further down the tunnel at whose end he'd been posted, two more came running, and as the first fell to the ground, unconscious, Dirk raised his sword again, the barest of smirks curving his lips.

"You got it?" Jade asked behind him, holding up her own gun and halfway starting to take aim down the hall, but still waiting for him to answer.

"Yeah, go ahead. There's not that many of these dumbasses," he replied, cracking a grin at her. "I'll take care of this!"

"Be careful," she instructed tersely before running a few meters away, so that the guards couldn't see her, and vanishing in a flash of green light. Dirk could handle himself; she didn't need to protect him. She would have to be back soon, because there were way more guards than just three, and the two of them didn't want to stay long enough to be caught fully on camera, but this ... this wouldn't take that long.

Today their mission of choice was to take out the western media watchers. They would be repaired soon enough, but tonight there would be perhaps a few hours of uncensored broadcasts. Sure, most media outlets already followed the Condesce to the letter, but there were a few who still tried to hold out, and those were the ones she and Dirk were trying to help out. They'd dropped an anonymous note to one of those stations, and hopefully they would listen and do some actual reporting. It was a gamble, but again, the whole point of what she and Dirk were doing was not to actually damage the Empress, just to show people that she wasn't untouchable, wasn't "perfect".

Jade reappeared and lightly landed on the stone floor of the watchtower's top floor, behind locked doors. She first proceeded to cut all the wires that fed the machines processing their tapped data, then removed some key parts that aided in the actual surveillance process and had them reappear deep in the oceans, and finally vanished all the memory drives to rematerialize in their base camp. The alarms were blaring and the door wouldn't hold the guards long, locked as it was, and it wasn't like they didn't know she was up here—there wasn't much else to target at this location, after all. The guard downstairs had said "hostiles"—hostiles, plural, meaning more than one, and there was only a single fighter at the western gate facing the ocean. They would figure it out soon enough.

She took a second to survey her work, to make sure the damage was complete. The stone floor was a little bit rough under her boots as she paced around the room once, examining the large computers. They towered above her head, but the wires leading into the walls were cleanly severed, the cooling system meant to keep them from overheating lay dismantled and most parts were missing, and the stored memory that contained all the footage that was "questionable" had been stolen, sitting safely back where she and Dirk would sleep tonight. That left only one thing to do.

_BANG!_

Jade jumped, startled, force of habit the only reason that her stifled squeak of surprise wasn't louder. The loud clang came again and she realized it was the guards, trying to force open the door. It was reinforced, but it wouldn't be long until they got something to pry it open with, or blew a hole in it, or just picked the lock—the point being, it wouldn't be long until they got in. She had to hurry!

Scurrying to the side of the room, she darted up the ladder and pushed open the trapdoor that led to the roof. This building was old, made of stone, and up here she could see all around from the rocky wall that encircled the roof. It would have been pretty—the architect had inlaid stones in intricate patterns along the floor and walls, and the view of the mountains to the west and the sea to the east was breathtaking, but she didn't exactly have the time to appreciate it.

There was another loud bang, this one slightly muffled by the stone but still audible from the open trapdoor, and she heard the soldiers spilling into the room below. _Stay calm_, Jade told herself. _This won't take long!_

No, her goal up here was simple. A single shot from her laser blaster cleanly took out the antenna that received data transmissions from all the media stations near the Imperial City, and another one destroyed the transmitter that would have allowed them to long-distance call for reinforcements. This way there would be several hours until it was repaired, and that time would all be uncensored.

"Hey! Put your hands up!" a rough voice ordered, and Jade whirled around, her eyes wide. There was a soldier behind her, his gun pointed at her heart. In the blink of an eye, she assessed the situation—he was standing on the top of the ladder, thereby blocking his comrades from joining him, and his grip was wavering ever so slightly. Maybe he was unsure about shooting to kill. Or perhaps she looked too innocent and sweet, standing there with the work of treason all around?

Either way, she knew he would hesitate when time came to pull the trigger—

"I said, hands _up_!" he barked, and now she could hear it for sure, there was a note of nervousness in his voice. Rose had taught her to see things like that, and how to use that. _Thanks, Rose,_ she thought, already knowing just how she was going to get out of this little fix.

"I'm sorry!" she squeaked, slowly starting to raise her hands, and carefully watching as he lowered his gun...

...and she raised hers in a flash, firing a laser bolt past his ear. As most people would do, he yelped and ducked away, but as she'd guessed he would he lost his balance and teetered precariously on the ladder. Jade whirled on her heel and ran to the edge of the tower, hesitating only a moment before she hoisted herself up onto the ledge surrounding the rooftop.

"What are you doing?" the guard yelled behind her as he scrambled onto the roof. She didn't turn back. "You don't have to—we're only trying to take you into custody!"

Jade leapt.

The wind rushing past her would have been exhilarating if the ground hadn't been rushing up to meet her just as fast—or if John was there—but as it was, it was kind of terrifying. Luckily, she knew just how to keep her head in moments of terror, or at least the ones like this that she could handle, and just a meager two or so seconds from hitting the ground she teleported away to Dirk's location.

There were ten guards total who'd been sent to subdue him, from what she could see. He had subdued eight of them by various means, but as she watched he stumbled over one of their bodies (or had one of them remained conscious enough to grab his ankle and trip him? She wasn't too sure on that) and fell. The remaining two lost no time in tackling him, and to her horror he fell, whacking his head on the corner of the stony stairs. The sword dropped from his grasp as one of the two guards raised her own blade, and—

"_Don't you fucking THINK about it!_" Jade snarled, lunging forward. A blast from her laser rifle shot a hole clean through the woman with the sword, and the other guard next to her spun on his heel to face this new threat. Jade didn't waste any time in first punching his gut and then blasting a hole through him, too, wincing just a little when he flew backwards from the force of the point-blank flare of energy. At least the laser cauterized wounds as it created them... but that was small comfort. She didn't like killing. But right now it didn't bother her too much! They had been about to kill Dirk, after all! Like hell she would ever, _ever _let something like that happen.

She slung the rifle over her shoulder and knelt next to him, anxiously but carefully lifting him into her arms. "Dirk?"

He groaned in response. "Fuck. What just happened?"

"You hit your head. I guess you blacked out for a second," she explained, breathing out a sigh of relief. He was okay, thank _god_... "They won't take too long to send more, though. We're done here, time to go!"

"Great," he muttered. "Where the fuck is my—"

She pressed his sword into his hand, grinning slightly, and then looked up. "Yeah, they're coming. We're out!"

The world faded into green once more.

* * *

At night, the island certainly was very peaceful—a stark contrast to the harsh glittering sunlight on the ocean near the tower, and all the lush greenery much more appealing than the bleak stony mountains there too. The waves washed in and out on the shore, the wind rustled in the trees, and fireflies lit up the woods as the light from their fire cast dancing shadows on the ground.

Yes, Jade insisted on a fire. Sure, they had a nice, Upper-District style camping tent with all the amenities one could ask for, but it was a nice camping experience only if they had a campfire and cooked food over it!

(Dirk rolled his eyes at her when she said this, but he went along with it. She would make a camper out of him yet!)

Right now, Jade was lying down and watching the stars, her head resting on his chest. Dirk lay perpendicular to her, listening as she pointed out constellations. They'd just eaten dinner and finished a successful mission, and life was good.

"How's your head?" she asked in the lull of their conversation, her eyes fixed on the stars. They glimmered faintly up above, silver constants no matter where she was, and she felt a little more at home. It had been strange coming back to the island, years later and in another universe—Jake had never lived here, but his grandmother, alternate universe her, had before she moved to the mainland to raise her grandson. The house was dilapidated and kind of unsteady, so they elected to use its resources but not live inside, instead camping out together near the beach. It reminded her a little of her childhood, and while she found that she was more nostalgic here, she was also more lighthearted.

"It's fine," Dirk said dismissively. "No concussion, I think, just a bump. It doesn't hurt that much now, anyway." His voice rumbled in his chest as he spoke, and she smiled softly up to the night sky.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said. "You kinda had me worried for a second there, earlier!"

He shifted slightly, moving one of his hands from behind his head to rest on her shoulder, and she laid hers atop his fingers. "Yeah, sorry about that. Uh, and thanks. For, you know, saving my life. Again."

Jade laughed, rolling over and propping herself up on her elbows to look down at him. Her hair was getting longer—it was finally past her shoulders, which was awesome, and more importantly it was long enough to tie back, which was _wonderful_—and it fell around her face, shielding both of their eyes from the firelight. "You're welcome," she giggled, leaning down to lightly kiss his forehead before she shifted back to her previous position, her head resting on his chest once more. "Though I think you made up for it, considering you saved _my _life last time."

Last time had been terrifying—she'd somehow ended up fighting in a small, dark room as they led the guards on a merry chase away from their main goals, and bam! Just like that, she'd had a flashback of her small, dark cell and frozen up, terrified for a horrible second. She hadn't seen the laser-rimmed axe coming fast enough to get her petrified body to move, and if Dirk hadn't tackled her to the ground the axe would have claimed her life. But that wasn't something she wanted to dwell on.

It had only been a few days since then, and she was pretty sure Dirk was desperately curious as to why she'd just ... frozen, had a moment of blind panic and sheer terror, but he hadn't asked yet. She didn't know whether to bring it up or not—she didn't want to think about that herself, but he deserved to know. They had both been through a lot together, and she trusted him with her life. Heck, this new life of adventure and daring and inciting revolt or at least planting thoughts of rebellion was almost exciting enough that she forgot to grieve!

Dirk solved the problem by lightly tapping her shoulder. "Yeah, about that... what happened back there, anyway? You've never just stopped fighting like that."

Suddenly, she was glad for the warmth and light of the fire, and the openness of the beach. They made it a lot easier to breathe. "I, um... I guess I never fully explained this, huh?"

He'd had nightmares, just like she had had when first rescued. But she had never really talked about her own experiences when he woke up, not wanting to discount his suffering. She'd always just held him and done what she knew from her own memories would help—singing softly, listening, physical comfort and affection, reassurance. Had he never wondered why she knew just what to do?

"No, you didn't," he said, and apparently even Dirk with his obtuse at best people skills had picked up that something wasn't quite right. He sat up carefully, thereby making her sit up too, and looked at her discerningly.

"I... well, okay. In my universe, I was captured by the Batterwitch." Dirk's sharp intake of breath told her that no, he hadn't guessed that, and she winced inwardly for reasons she herself didn't quite know before forging onwards. "It was a little like your Mages' College here, but I bypassed that and went straight to the dungeons, pretty much. See, it was when me, Dave, John, and Rose had already been on the run for a while, and they captured me and they were mad because I transported them all away. But I didn't have the power to transport myself with them."

"But you do—" he started, brow furrowed, when she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"I didn't, back then. And then they experimented on me and did some awful things that I don't want to think of, let alone talk about, and now I have a lot of power. And they kept me in a cell that was deep underground and small and dark, and I do not do well in places that are... that are deep, small, and dark."

"Oh," Dirk said. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, resting his chin atop her head. "Why didn't... we've been together for what, almost two months now. Why didn't you say so before?"

Jade was glad that her face was invisible to him, because she wasn't sure she could have made eye contact just then. "I... I honestly kind of wanted to forget," she finally said, her voice soft. "I don't like to think about it."

"Fuck, well yeah, I mean... that's understandable," he muttered. Silence fell for a few moments.

"I can tell you still want to ask me something," she sighed, wondering how it was that he was so similar to Dave yet so different.

Dirk stiffened, and when he spoke he sounded almost guilty. "I just... how did you get out?"

"John and Rose and Dave saved me," she said simply. "I wouldn't be here without them..." Oh no, oh no, oh no, now she was thinking about them, about the way the sun danced in Rose's eyes every time she smiled or the way John was somehow always exuberant as long as he was free and happy or the way that Dave sang her to sleep when she had nightmares, and now she was going to cry probably because how could they be _gone_? It hardly made sense, the world didn't make sense without them, and most of the time she was just in denial that she'd never see them again. They had to have gotten out, they had to! She would find them again, somehow, someday...

"Yeah," Dirk murmured, his voice raw and low, full of emotion. "Me neither."

"Do you want to go see Jake?" she asked suddenly, raising her head to look at him. She was homesick, he was homesick, and Jake was the constant in both of their lives, the person who they could go to that both of them knew and held dear already. They hadn't seen him in a good long while, actually, not since their first raid.

Dirk blinked in surprise, then nodded. She noted that he didn't pull away, though, and guessed that he had been thinking about his own time in captivity—what a dark subject, that was definitely just the way to ruin a good night!—and that terrible dank cell she'd found him in, or the way that Jane had been hurt to get to him, from what she'd gathered from the tidbits the other girl had mentioned and the occasional hints that he dropped. So she wouldn't let go of him, and she would easily pretend that she was the only one needing comfort if he didn't want to show it right now.

"But we can stay here for a second longer," she added, laying her head back against his shoulder, and wrapping her arms around him. "Right?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. But the note of relief in his voice was palpable, even if he didn't think it was, and she smiled.

It was nice, being like this. The first two weeks of the two of them living and traveling together had been a bit awkward, to say the least—neither of them knew the other particularly well, more like the friend of a friend really, and it had taken her a little while to win over his trust, but now? Now they were good friends. Going through several life-threatening experiences together and sharing silly family stories around campfires tended to have that effect, at least. Jade tried not to laugh at the memory of the night two days ago when she and Dirk had swapped silly stories about Dave... oh, her darling Time mage wouldn't talk to her for a week if he knew she'd mentioned the pineapple incident to his brother!

She was glad they'd warmed up to each other. It was like being with family again, kind of. Or at least a best friend. Normally people weren't this close to each other after only two months, but... these weren't exactly normal circumstances, now were they? They were on the run, alone together, and had saved each other's lives and been in positions where they had to put absolute trust in the other. And they always came through! She trusted Dirk with her life, and she was pretty sure he felt the same way about her. Overall, she was glad to have him. He was a good friend.

The only drawback was just how much he reminded her of Dave... she missed Dave a lot, what could she say? He was on her mind a lot, because she _knew _how much he'd wanted to meet Dirk in this universe and she'd so been looking forward to letting them reunite and she kept wanting to turn around and eagerly tell him about what they'd done today but—

But he was never there, and she would quietly return her gaze to her hands or to the fire or wherever else. It was hard. She missed Rose, too. Rose would have been there to talk her through her grief and hold her and console her and make her smile again, all of that, and more, because Rose was her best friend and she loved the other girl with all her heart and oh god she missed her so, so much. At least right now the memories were sharp and clear—late nights spent whispering together and giggling, talking about everything from boys to homework to plans for the future to silly movies and anything in between, too. Rose was the only person who had ever known about Jade's feelings for Dave; she hadn't even told John that.

Oh, John... if only he were here. There were no words to describe the ache in her heart at the thought of her brother. There simply weren't. His last words to her had been panicked and heartwrenching, when the room she and Dirk had been in collapsed and he screamed her name—that was the last memory she had of her brother. That was not the last memory she wanted to have, and she quickly dragged her thoughts to the winter ball they'd attended in their last year of school, and the way the two of them had happily danced together and laughed amidst the falling snow outside. That had been a happy time...

"Dirk?" Jade asked. He hummed in response, and she wondered whether he too had been reminiscing.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me something about Jane," she said, raising her head again to look at him with a slight smile. "We've talked about Dave, but not much about Jane! What's a story about her?"

Dirk's warm amber eyes mirrored the warmth of the fire as he regarded her, the light flickering merrily in their auburn depths. A long time back, the two of them had both broken down in grief, and comforted each other as best as they could through it, and the conversation that followed had been one in which they agreed the best way to remember their lost friends—Jade refused to say "dead", she refused to believe that—was by honoring their memory and remembering the best moments, the fun ones and the silly and the sweet and the thoughtful, all the good things.

"Well," he started, "have I ever told you about the time she organized a party for Roxy, with lots and lots of extra whipped cream?"

"No," Jade's smile grew as she settled in to listen to the sound of his voice, leaning against him and once again looking up at the stars. They shone bright and distant as ever, a reminder of the constants in life, just like the love she would always, always, _always _hold for her friends, and even though that would never truly be enough, she was starting to think she could make it through this. She didn't know if they'd ever see each other again or if she'd only have Dirk and Jake forevermore, but maybe... maybe they would. The stars reminded her of home, and for tonight, home reminded her of hope.

* * *

_AN: Whoops, Thanksgiving break happened and I sort of forgot I had a story to write. Sorry! XD_

_Here I was thinking "Oh, but I can't possibly write a whole chapter in one sitting..." Guess what? I can write a whole chapter in one sitting. Good job, me. :D_

_So yes! More timeskipping - there's a bit of a lot of that during this arc - and now we get to see Jade and Dirk being both badass and cute. They're adorable. I love them so much. Also, hanging out on Jade's island is cool, right? ;D No one knows they're there!_

_Um... was there anything else I wanted to say? There probably is, but I'm forgetting, so... maybe if I remember there will be a tumblr post or something. Idk. Happy December, everyone! :D _

_Oh, and happy late birthday to Jade and Jake, and happy early birthday to Dave, Dirk, Rose, and Roxy! c:_


	43. Chapter 43: Jane - A Hand To Hold

Jane rolled over, rubbing her eyes, and sighed.

Why, exactly, did the sun have to be up? Why couldn't it have waited a little longer? Would that have been too much trouble?

With another sigh, she did her best to shake off the exhaustion and went to wash up and get ready for the day, noting Rose coming back into camp from her morning watch. Where was—

"Good morning!" John greeted cheerily, dropping out of the sky in front of her, as she tiredly stretched her arms up and then let them fall back to her sides. Technically, she didn't quite have to be awake yet, but habit made her rouse herself earlier than she'd like to, and as much as she'd have liked to go back to sleep, they had things to do, and she couldn't lie in her nice warm bedroll and waste the day away. It was time to start to pack up camp and move along, head to a nearby town and restock their supplies.

She would remain hanging back with Rose at camp, packing up everything but the essentials and erasing most traces of their presence, while John went shopping. It kind of made her feel bad, sending him off alone and all, but both John and Rose were insistent that one, Jane couldn't enter any cities because if word got out that she was alive, things would be bad, and two, Jane shouldn't be left alone either, considering her lack of combat skills in case of emergency. So she remained at camp with Rose today. They would spend one more night in this location, and then at dawn tomorrow they would leave and head westward.

"Good morning," she responded, giving him a little smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough," he shrugged. Jane studied him for a moment, taking in the rich blue of his eyes and the stark contrast with his shock of dark hair—so similar to her own—as he grinned, his entire appearance tousled by the wind. There was a definite resemblance between him and Poppop, now that she looked for it, and that made him that much more endeared to her. The three of them had been traveling together for over two months now, by Rose's count, and Jane felt reasonably close to both of them, though she did sometimes feel a bit left out because Rose and John were already so close. It made her miss Roxy, Dirk, and Jake even more.

"Ready to go?" Rose asked, approaching from the edge of camp. Jane looked over and gave her a smile in greeting, which she returned warmly before her gaze returned to John.

"Yup!" he said brightly, flashing the two of them a grin and a thumbs-up.

"So soon?" Jane asked, surprised. Hadn't they all just woken? Surely he should eat at least, before heading out!

"Oh, yeah, sorry, I thought I'd just let you get some sleep," John said with a trace of sheepishness. "I already had breakfast, if that's what you're worried about. I mean, I woke up early and everything but you and Rose are staying here, so it's no harm..."

She let out a little laugh, nodding. "Goodness, but you do know me well, don't you! Alright then, go along, and we'll see you later!"

He grinned at that, tossing his head to flick his unruly hair away from his eyes, and then stepped forward to give first Rose and then her quick hugs. "Yeah, okay, cool! See ya in a few hours, guys!" With a final wave he turned and started to jauntily walk away, disappearing behind the rocks and leaving Jane alone with Rose.

Jane turned slightly, looking at her companion. The early morning sunlight shone brightly on Rose's warm golden hair, giving it a burnished sheen that seemed fitting considering that the girl was a Light mage, and glimmered brightly on the sea that soughed in the distance—maybe a ten minute's walk from their camp. They really were in the middle of nowhere, near some Old Skaian ruins that, if Jane had to guess, were probably part of an old seaside town. Now they were just overgrown stones and cracked tiles, but the moss-covered walls still provided some shelter from the elements, and from prying eyes if any from the sort-of nearby village cared to look around. It was late summer and very warm, as a few birds chirped and twittered in the foliage overhead, and overall Jane thought this whole setting was quite nice indeed.

_Jake would love this_, she thought with a pang. _He always did want to travel and see the world. I hope he's okay._ She wished they could go back, go find him, but... maybe John and Rose could; she couldn't. She was a fugitive and if she was seen with him, she'd just be putting him in grave danger, too. She couldn't do that to him. Not Jake, never Jake.

A light touch on her shoulder made Jane look up to meet Rose's violet eyes, filled with a gentle warmth and understanding. "I wish we could find them again," she said quietly.

"Me too," Jane sighed. "I wish—I mean, they're all... gone... except Jake, really. I wish we could go to him, see him, tell him at least we're not dead, you know? I miss him. He would really get a kick out of this whole life on the run thing, I think! He's always wanted to get out of the city and see the world, explore places like this."

Rose's hand slipped into hers, and Jane smiled slightly. "You know, John and Jade's grandfather owned an island out in the middle of nowhere. It was covered in Old Skaian ruins too, and they used to live there in their own little house, until they moved to the Imperial City. Jade showed me, once. It was ... it was very nice."

"A _private island_," Jane's eyes widened at the thought before she shook her head, laughing. "Boy, he sure was living the dream!" She squeezed her friend's hand, though, and then looked down at her feet. "I miss him."

"I wish I could do more," the other girl sighed, pressing her lips together in a dissatisfied frown. Her fingers loosened and Jane thought she might pull away, so she tightened her own until Rose looked up again. This time, though, the smile on her lips was false, and Jane knew it—she wore her own share of fake smiles, after all.

"You're doing all you can," she defended. "Don't try to push yourself too hard! You nearly drained yourself completely when we were leaving town, even though that was almost two months ago, didn't you? I've heard of people doing that, and it takes a long time to recover."

Rose still looked unconvinced. "Yes, that was one of the many mistakes I made that led us to this point. If I had just done more—rather, if I had just done less Seeing and more thinking, relied less on magic, then perhaps I would have been less blind, ironically. There are ways of hiding things from Seers, things that might have even been seen without using Sight, and if I'd been thinking straight perhaps I would have noticed that. Perhaps then you wouldn't have lost your friends, and John would still have his sister. My own cousin—" she cut herself off, choked on some tears, and turned away slightly, but Jane didn't let go of her hand, instead tightening her grasp.

How had the beautiful morning come to grief again? she wondered sadly. It seemed that as long as they kept remembering their ... their dead friends, they would never be happy. But Rose didn't deserve this pain, didn't deserve the blame for this. And as much as Jane _wanted _to shoulder her fair share of it, she honestly couldn't figure out how anything was their fault, other than maybe starting the protests in the first place. But if they hadn't done that, well... who knows what else might have happened? Bad things, probably—these were the events that had given her a new purpose and reason to keep going after Poppop and Dad died. Oh no, she didn't want to think of those deaths, too, not when she was thinking about Dave, Jade, Roxy, and Dirk.

Oh, Dirk... it was so unfair! So very unfair that just as he started to heal and he was going to be okay, the ceiling caved in and he was just—no, no, she couldn't even _think_ about him being crushed by the falling rocks and rubbles, she couldn't. He and Jade were trapped alone back there in that one small room...

And who even _knew _about Dave and Roxy? They'd lost them in the Tunnels, when there was that huge rockfall and John had held the whole thing up. They were gone, too.

How ironic was it that everyone around her, the girl with the power of Life, ended up dead?

"Stop that," Rose said quietly, her voice low and almost weary. "I don't need to be a seer to know that you're giving yourself undue grief for ... for all of this. Don't."

"Then you don't either," Jane replied tartly, squeezing her hand and smiling just a bit when Rose squeezed back. "It is not your fault. Goodness, what is it with all of us and assigning blame where it isn't due? Why can't we just blame the Empress and be done with it!"

Rose huffed a laugh as the sea breeze picked up, ruffling their hair. "I don't know, truly. It would be a lot easier if we did that."

A gentle silence fell, a bit more melancholy than it had been earlier, and Jane stifled a sigh as she looked out to sea. The waves glimmered and sparkled, constant and unending as ever, beckoning as they shimmered in the warm sunlight. They weren't too far away from the shoreline, really, and she had to admit she was more than a little curious, standing here on this ruined hillside that overlooked the glistening waters. There were the overgrown remnants of a stony road leading down to what probably used to be docks, meandering down the hill.

"Do you want to take a short walk while we eat breakfast?" Jane asked out of the blue, looking up at the taller girl.

"A walk?" Rose seemed almost surprised at the idea, looking around. "I suppose we could, provided we don't wander too far from camp. After all, we still must pack, and we shouldn't abandon the place for too long."

"A short walk, then," Jane said. "Just down to the sea and back, perhaps, if that would be alright with you?" It would be good, she thought, if they could get a little change of scenery, clear their minds a bit. This place was beautiful, but only seeing the part of it that they'd been camping in for the past few nights made it less appealing, gave them more time to think, really, and more time to think meant more time to dwell on things that really shouldn't be dwelt upon for too long. Things like dead friends and second chances that never had the opportunity to be taken. Things like lost apologies and relief and laughter that never happened.

Things that shouldn't be dwelt upon for too long, really. That was the past, and this was her life now, for the foreseeable future, until Rose started Seeing again at least, and then it would only change if she found something worth acting on. But she wasn't going to be Seeing for a while, not if Jane or John had anything to do with it.

_"__Don't let her go into a trance, 'kay?_" John had said weeks ago, right after they'd left the Imperial City. _"It's a Seer thing—when they dig too deep, they can really hurt themselves, and Rose is really bad about admitting when she gets to the point of causing herself harm. She's already a little past that point, honestly, and it's gonna take some time for her to heal fully. I'll talk to her, but whenever it's just you guys, make her sit there and don't let her persuade you that it's just a short one or something. No Seeing at all for her for a while. Got it?"_

Jane had to admit, she didn't fully know what exactly was going on or how Seer magic worked, but she trusted John with her life—he'd saved it before, after all—and she knew just how much he cared about Rose, so she wasn't going to doubt him there. Plus, even though she hadn't known Rose anywhere near as long as he had, she could tell the other girl was the kind to sacrifice herself without a second thought, even if it was avoidable, if she thought it was the best option. Or maybe she just didn't think about it. Either way, she didn't take care of herself as much as she ought to. Just like the rest of them, really.

"A short walk," Rose agreed, drawing Jane from her thoughts as she glanced over with a slight smile—gentle and small, but it reached her lavender eyes, and that was the important part. Their hands were still linked, too, and Jane supposed neither of them wanted to let go, because every time one of them loosened her clasp a little, the other would tighten her fingers in protest; it made her feel warm and wanted, even by this girl who projected aloofness to the world as if it wasn't clear to everyone around her that she cared, cared almost too much.

What could she say? Jane admired Rose a lot. She was strong, but not unkind, and she was selfless and brilliant and yet calm in the face of adversity.

"Wonderful! Two friends out for a seaside stroll, one sunny morning," Jane smiled, stooping to pick up a few slices of bread as Rose snagged the pouch they carried fruit in. The two of them began walking side-by-side, following the long-unused road down to the ancient docks. "Have you ever seen the sea before?"

Rose was silent a moment, letting the question hang in the air as she hopped down a few rocks, holding Jane's hand to steady her as the smaller girl followed. "Yes, a few times," she finally answered thoughtfully. "I told you that Jade's grandfather lived on an island; in the few months before we came to this universe, we went to that island twice, and stayed there for a little while. It was a very nice island," she added with a light laugh. "I suppose it exists in this universe, too, but it isn't like we can get there right now. More's the pity, really! It would make an excellent place to hide."

"It would, and besides that, we'd be on our very own island," Jane pointed out with a dreamy look. "Just imagine that!" Living in seclusion might be nice, never having to worry about hiding from everyone and just having her friends around every day. They could have their own little peaceful lives and just... be, really. No running, no fighting, just an idyllic little place all of their own! She would bake all of the meals, and maybe John would help, except with the sweets, of course, because he hated those as much as Poppop used to, and Jake would have a ball exploring and adventuring until he got the whole place charted out, while Dirk could sit and fiddle with robots to his heart's content and Roxy spent the day in a whirlwind of computers and books and laughter. Wouldn't that be nice?

"It was enjoyable, while it lasted," Rose agreed, smiling wistfully. "I recall John and Jade looking through the old house—it was abandoned, and all dusty, but it was still very much useable—and telling Dave and myself each and every silly exploit that happened in each corner. They used to have prank wars in that house—"

"Prank wars?" Jane perked up. It had been a long time since she indulged her little pranksterish ambitions, considering the attempted revolution and then her subsequent captivity, and now this, but she still loved the idea of a good laugh. And telling happy stories about her friends kept her from thinking too much about the sad ones... but anyway, she needed to try to be happy about them! They wouldn't have wanted her to be sad. Roxy hated seeing her cry, and Dirk ... well, Dirk got himself in that horrible state by sticking up for her in the first place. And Jake wasn't dead, darnit! She would see him again, one day.

"Yes, prank wars," Rose shook her head, a merry glint playing about her eyes as they stepped onto the sand, drawing closer to the crystalline waves lapping at the shore. "Pass me some bread, would you?" she asked, finally letting go of Jane's hand to open the fruit satchel and passing over a few slices of dried mango that they'd traded for a few days ago. "John and alternate universe you were the keenest on it, and they got Jade to join their adventures as well. The house was full of water balloons and tripwires, as I heard it, and their grandfather was the usual subject of these. He didn't mind though; apparently he found it hilarious. From what John and Jade told me, he and their grandmother were very much in love, even to the end." She blinked and glanced at Jane a little sheepishly. "Although, I suppose that might be a little awkward of a subject."

"The idea of me marrying Jake?" Jane wrinkled her nose and laughed. "Trust me, it's not like I haven't had several conversations on the matter with a Lalonde already."

Rose let out a peal of bright laughter as the nigh-constant wind tousled her hair, making her shake her head to toss it back. "Ah, yes, I should have known. She was always fond of her matchmaking endeavors, wasn't she?"

"Very," Jane sighed, shaking her head. "She always thought Jake and I would make a nice couple. Truthfully, I don't know if I feel about him that way, but he is a very, very dear friend to me. The idea of me falling in love with him, in another life, isn't _that _strange, honestly! Especially not compared to some other things that I've heard recently."

"True," Rose nodded. "At this point, I feel that romance is the least of our concerns, to be frank. I'd rather focus on staying alive, and staying together, not... well, not falling apart again."

That reminded her. "Um," Jane broached a bit tentatively, "yes, about that. I actually was a bit curious. You see, John mentioned something like you shouldn't be going into trances these days? Whyever not, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh," Rose sighed a bit wearily, even though it was still early in the morning. "Well, it's a bit of a Seer thing. When I go into a trance, I look into what we call the Void, or the Furthest Ring—it has a few names, but those are the most common. No one truly knows where they come from, but there are a manner of enchanted beings that dwell there, and they try to draw one down to join them. It is perilous, because it takes energy to resist them, which is why Seeing is so taxing. Unlike other magic, Sight takes a while to recharge, if it is depleted of energy, and I am ashamed to admit that depleting myself is exactly what I did a few months ago while looking for you and Dirk. So until I am fully revitalized and ready, common sense tells me I should avoid trances, as I am frankly not ready for them."

"... Oh," Jane said, taking all that in. There was the "_again_" Rose had also said, but she wasn't sure she wanted to hear that story yet, so she let a comfortable silence fall between them as they finished their breakfast, just listening to the soughing of the waves and feeling the wind blowing against their faces.

Ahead of them, the ocean stretched on into infinity, blue like the sky it glittered under. The rocks from the shore road extended into the water—Jane guessed that the sea level had been lower, back then—and the ruins of some buildings marched down into the waves as well; they were old and crumbling, yet still carried some majesty with them, and the breeze whistled in the corners and ancient windows. What had this town been like, long ago? It must have been a sight to behold. Whatever caused the fall of Old Skaia, anyway? It was never taught in the history classes—nothing before the Batterwitch was taught, actually. Jane wondered if anyone knew at all.

She finished the last of her bread and fruit, dusting off her hands, and then slipped her shoes off and edged forward until the waves lapped at her ankles. Rose followed suit, a small smile playing about her lips as if no one was watching her when she rolled up her leggings and removed her shoes, jumping into the water with a little splash. Jane laughed and splashed back in her direction.

What followed was a small-scale splash war in the sea that left them both drenched and laughing like carefree children once again as they stood in the warm sunlight, feet still in the water. Jane shook her head, trying to find a dry spot on her clothes to wipe her glasses on, and Rose reached up to wring out her hair, sending a small stream of water back into the sea.

"Do you ever sometimes think about what it'd be like if we had normal lives?" Jane asked her, giving up and putting the drop-covered lenses back on.

"Normal?" Rose queried, raising an eyebrow slightly. "As in, lived like everyone else on Skaia, unknowing or in fear every day?"

"Yup," Jane answered. "If we hadn't gotten caught up in everything, if we'd just... kept our heads down, I suppose. Roxy and Dirk might still be alive, even if we lived in fear."

Rose shrugged lightly. "I used to live like that. John, Jade, Dave, and I all lived like that, with our houses in walking distance of each other and the four of us attending school together. It used to be that our biggest worries were our grades and our courses for extra study and who went to the dances with whom. And then the Batterwitch targeted Jade and Dave, and things went downhill. I sometimes think that little easy life would have been better, but truthfully, I don't know. We would have had to change Jade's magic, and Dave's, to keep that, and that would have made them different people. I don't think it would be possible for the four of us to have fit into 'normal', not on this planet."

"The four of us used to," Jane sighed. "We weren't targeted. We were the ones who decided to do something. We were hotheaded, young, naïve and stupid. And now everyone's gone." The fun and exhilaration of a few minutes ago didn't seem to have lasted. Jane looked down at her feet, distorted through the water swirling around them.

A warm hand settled on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Rose's gentle smile and sharp gaze that was softened to understanding, with a hint of steel and a promise underneath. "Not everyone," she said, and Jane smiled.

"You're right. Not everyone."

* * *

_AN: GUYS I AM SO SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO LEAVE YOU FOR A MONTH I AM TRASH ;_;_

_First hell week happened, then finals week, then two weeks of being at home with the family and no way to be like "but I must hide away with my computer and write stories about someone else's characters!" happened too, and suddenly it's a month since I last updated. I am so sorry D: _

_And also, I want to wish you all a happy belated New Year! I hope you all had a good one and I wish you all the best for 2015. May this year be a good one!_

_(Finally, my comment on this chapter: look at these cuties. Look at them. Jane and Rose are adorable. That is all.)_

_Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, and I promise I will try to update before February xD love you guys!_


	44. Chapter 44: Roxy - Encounters

Well, it was raining again today. Pretty hard, too.

But you know what? This time it was a good thing!

In fact it was the best possible thing to end Roxy's evening, as opposed to the gloominess of last time it had rained! Because right now, she was laughing and soaked to the skin as she splashed down the sidewalk, twirling around and flinging water from her fingertips as she splayed them outward. Oh man, oh man, had it been a good day or _what_!

Walking a bit more sedately next to her was Gaen, who wore a little forcefield to keep himself dry. It made the rain bounce away from him around a centimeter or so above his skin and hair, and it was wayyy less fun than getting sopping wet. He shook his head at her as he watched her antics, an amused grin curving his lips. "You really are something else," he commented fondly.

"And you, mister, are no fun," she replied, grinning as she took his hand. The forcefield allowed that contact, but its protection didn't extend to her arm, just her fingers. Tonight had been fun, and now it was drawing to a close—Gaen was just walking her home from their dinner date. Then he would head home, and she would probably go drip on Dave or something to make them both laugh, and then they'd... hm. It was a weekend, so they might put on some movies and stay up really late or something.

"Well, that's not fully true, I'd hope!" he laughed, swinging their joined hands back and forth lightly as they walked. "I'd like to think I'm a bit fun. Except I don't like getting my gadgets wet, you know."

"Hm... okay, that's an acceptable excuse not to play in the water," Roxy conceded. "Keeping the tech dry is top priority! But next time it rains while we're out, you'd better be prepared to dance down the street with me and get soaked to the skin, got it?"

"Understood!" Gaen gave her a two-fingered salute, accompanied by a charming grin, and she laughed. "I used to play in the rain all the time when I was little. My mom always got mad that I came in covered in mud, every time it rained!"

"That's lame," Roxy teased, pretending she didn't feel a pang of loss at the thought of her own mother. "When it rained, my mom would come out and dance in it with me." It was true, actually, even though a lot of what she said to him about her past was lies. Rose Lalonde, the older one, who Roxy had grown up knowing, actually did sometimes step outside in the downpour, raising her hands to the sky with a little smile, and then she might splash Roxy or take her hands and draw her outside or—no, stop that. That's not the point, she told herself.

"Your mom sounds like she was amazing," Gaen said a little more softly, looking over to her with his gentle brown eyes. He knew Roxy's parents were dead—she and Dave had agreed on that as part of their cover story: their parents died, and recently, too, in case they sometimes seemed lost in thought or grieving. "I wish I could have met her."

"She was amazing," Roxy agreed, feeling her bright spirits drooping just a little. "But I—I don't want to think or talk about ... about that," she added quietly, and Gaen squeezed her hand.

"Of course not," he said understandingly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. Let's keep skipping down the street in the rain and moonlight, hm? Seems like something terribly cheesy from a cliché romance movie!"

"Oh, David just _loves _those," she said, giggling as she forced away the thoughts of Rose, and also of the other Rose. She was going to have a good night, dammit! No grief. Nope! She could amuse herself with the fact that Dave was going by David to everyone but her, even though he didn't really like that name and it was _hilarious _to see his face when she called him David, too.

"Does he really? I wouldn't have pinned him for that type," Gaen mused. Roxy was very tempted not to tell him no, actually, 'David' doesn't care for them and if you watch one with him he will keep up a running and also very scathing commentary the whole time, but then again one never knew. Gaen was the kind of sweetheart who might actually try to have a family movie night.

"No, he doesn't," she said, watching as the thoughtful look went to the almost disappointed one and then to the _okay you got me_ one, and trying not to grin too hard. "He's a big ol' dork, but not _as_ big of a dork as you!"

Gaen's hand flew to cover his heart. "Alas! The lady has wounded me terribly!"

Roxy laughed, bumping her shoulder against his notably drier one. "Nah, I don't think so. I _could _do much worse. What if I had called you ... a _dweeb_?" she teased, feeling her spirits lifting and soaring once more. This was good. This was great! Exactly what she needed, really; she needed friends and she needed to go out and have fun, sometimes. She still wasn't sure if she was romantically interested in Gaen, though she definitely thought there was potential for it, but he was a good friend and that was enough, for now. And he was okay with that. When he had first asked her out, she had specified that she wasn't quite looking for romance now, though she was open to the idea, but she wanted to be friends and he was okay with it.

He honestly was one of the kindest people she'd ever met. It reminded her of Jake, sometimes, but Gaen was different from him, too. More innocent and lighthearted, well-educated and well-traveled, and with a different taste in literature, too. Well, with _taste _in literature and movies. Oh, Jake.

"Oh, no, that would be much worse indeed," he agreed, laughing. "You are right, as ever! I got off lightly that time, merely a dork. I suppose I can accept that."

Roxy shook her head at him as they mounted the steps, heading into the apartment building where she lived with Dave. Gaen stopped at the elevator as she pushed the button to summon it down, letting go of her hand a little reluctantly.

"Well," he said, "did you have a good time tonight?"

"I did," she agreed, a wide smile lighting up her face. "I mean, it'd have been more fun if you didn't have to be carrying gadgetry, but oh well. Next time, none for you!"

"Next time," he said with a little smile and a nod. "That's a promise. Next time it rains, I'll come running down here and drag you out and we'll go swim around in the streets."

"Good! Sounds like the perfect date," Roxy laughed, tucking a sopping lock of hair behind her ear. "Thank you for tonight," she added more earnestly, looking up at him with a candid expression.

"Of course," Gaen smiled warmly. "You're a good friend! It's always a delight to go out with you."

Ouch. She kind of felt guilty, because there was just so much she was hiding from him, but... it still had been only two months or so. She couldn't tell him everything, not yet! Maybe later, after years passed and she could actually say it and she didn't still have the suspicion he'd hate her or try to have her arrested. "You—you're a really good friend, too. Um... so, I kind of want to tell you something."

He raised an eyebrow, curious and inviting. "Yes?"

"If—so, um, there's stuff about me that I don't know if I'm comfortable talking about, and I don't know if I will ever be, but if it ever comes up in the future I never mean to like, lie about it, I just... sometimes I have to hide, and I don't want that to get in the way of us being friends." She finished in a rush, staring at the patterned carpet that she was dripping on, when Gaen touched her shoulder.

"Roxanne," he said, and she looked up in surprise at such a fast response. "Everyone has secrets and things in their pasts that no one would guess. It's fine! You don't have to apologize for that. In fact, I don't think most people even acknowledge it. So, thank you for saying that."

It wasn't what he was thinking, but she couldn't tell him that. But maybe he would understand, whenever she told him later. So she gave him a little smile—a genuine one, too—and nodded. "Well, good night, Gaen."

"Good night, Roxanne. I'll see you Monday!" he said cheerily.

"See you!" she waved, heading into the elevator as the doors opened. He kept waving, so she waved back, cracking up with laughter until the doors closed, and as they took her up up and up to the twelfth floor, she still was grinning.

When the doors dinged and opened, she stepped out and squelched her way down the hall until reaching the apartment she and Dave shared, scanning her hand and opening the door.

"I'm home!" she called, to no response. That was a little weird. Maybe he was asleep, or he'd gone out or something.

Well, now that she was inside, the rainwater drenching her to the bone was kind of cold. The first order of business, therefore, was a hot shower, so she gingerly made her way to the bathroom, trying her best not to get the carpet wet underfoot. It was... somewhat effective, and at least now that she was in the bathroom, she could turn the hot water on full blast and soak away her few worries of the day.

When Roxy came out of the shower, she dressed herself in the coziest pajamas she owned and then sauntered out to the living room, her wet hair falling around her shoulders and a little bit down her back and getting her shirt wet. There, she found Dave—asleep, like she'd suspected, on the couch. He'd been up super late last night finishing a few songs, or something, so it wasn't really unexpected to find him sprawled out here; Roxy just smiled at him and draped a blanket over his unconscious form. He stirred at the contact, being possibly the lightest sleeper she had ever met in the history of ever, but didn't wake, so she carefully stole back to her room.

There, she flicked on the lights and plopped down at her cushioned desk hoverchair, twirling around a few times and contemplating what to do now. Free time was nice!

Through her translucent pink curtains she could see the city lights out the window, the dark sky silhouetting the tall buildings and the windows in each of them pouring out lights, the bright advertisments floating above on holoboards, and the hovercars zooming by between those, far above. Hovertransit was mostly long-distance, especially here in Ensypi, one of the oldest cities on Skaia. Still, the hovercars were pretty cool to watch and even cooler to fly in, even though she'd only been flying while her mom was alive. She kind of wanted to try it again, go traveling some. Well, she and Dave were stockpiling money as it came in! Maybe they'd be able to take a trip sometime!

Roxy trailed her fingers along the windowsill as she leaned precariously over from her hoverchair, her legs extended out in the other direction to balance her. The clouds still looked dark and grey, letting down their rain, and the lights of the city contrasted brilliantly against them as she drew the curtains back to gaze outside more easily, without the magenta haze. It was pretty and nice and peaceful to watch the lights whiz on by, weaving around the tallest buildings and shooting over the smaller ones, and she found herself smiling without even knowing why as she sat there.

Until the chair wobbled a bit too far and she quickly returned to a safer position, anyway, laughing at herself. "That coulda been bad," she shook her head and then kicked off from the wall and tucked her arms around her knees so that she could twirl around a few times at high speeds. That sure was fun to do! Exceeept now she was a little dizzy. Well, more than a little dizzy. Okay, a lottle dizzy. Wait, no, that wasn't a word! A lot dizzy. Very dizzy? Very dizzy was proper grammar. Thanks, Janey.

Ah, Jane. Roxy still missed her terribly, but at least she didn't have nightmares much these days, didn't have breakdowns that often. Actually, she thought she was finally—_finally—_starting to heal, to move on. Which was good! She'd dealt with grief before, when her mother died, and she knew it was hard to move on, but it was even harder to keep wallowing in sorrow and blame and guilt. And now that she was making new friends, things were looking up!

It wasn't that she was replacing her old friends, not at all. But she'd been through enough to know that it was terribly unhealthy to remain fixated on the past, to refuse to move on to the present and live her life without ghosts and regrets. Thanks to Dirk, that one. He'd helped her learn that, the same way she had helped him.

And maybe one day she would be able to see Jake again. He was safe, and alive—probably hurting and confused, but alive—and she would see him, sometime. As soon as things were calm and she and Dave were settled in fully, here. Then, maybe they could take a little vacation to the Imperial City and drop by and see him. David and Roxanne Marlonde weren't originally from the Imperial City, instead being from a small town a few hours in the other direction called Irseth, which Dave Strider and Roxy Lalonde had done some extensive research on during their first few days in Ensypi. But David and Roxanne certainly could want to be tourists!

Man, they had a fancy complicated backstory. They'd moved around a lot but lived longest in Irseth, when their parents had both died in a hovercar crash, and after that they'd wanted a new start, so they left and came to Ensypi. That was the basic stuff, but there was a lot more, and Roxy had had to do some hacking and many illegal things to make sure the paperwork was all there in case anyone ever came looking. Which, hopefully, no one would. They'd covered their tracks well, she thought.

_Ding!_

Roxy blinked, sitting up and looking at her computer. Who would be messaging her...? She had erased her old profiles and everything linked to Roxy Lalonde, and that had been the ringtone associated with her old chat account. She hadn't deleted it because sometimes she liked to go back and reread her old chatlogs, but she'd disconnected it, hadn't she?

An uneasy feeling in her stomach now, she leaned forward and carefully opened the blinking notification.

UU: greetings, roxy!  
UU: i realise that yoU probably are a little alarmed right now, and i do apologise for that!  
UU: i am a friend, however, i promise. oh dear, this is all a little complicated to explain... there are mUltiple shenanigans involved to be sUre!  
UU: the most apparent ones are time travel shenanigans, thoUgh. bUt i will try to explain as best as i can.

Roxy remained silent, alarmed indeed. Who was this unknown person? She had never added them, why were they contacting her? Did this mean she and Dave had to run away again, that they'd been found out?

UU: no no please don't block me jUst yet!  
UU: just hear me oUt.  
UU: i know for fact that yoU are an enemy of lord english. yoUr fUtUre self has told me this!  
UU: i am also one of his greatest foes.  
UU: or, i sUppose, one of their greatest foes. that is the terminology that makes the most sense to yoU right now.  
UU: and i need yoUr help!

_What. _Roxy hadn't thought she would ever have to hear those words again. Lord English...

UU: bUt more on that later.  
UU: right now all i need yoU to do is one very simple thing!

TG: whoa whoa whoa hold the FUCK up mystery chick  
TG: or dude or whatever you are actually

UU: yes?

TG: who the hell are you and why the hell would i listen to you when i have no basis to trust you at all?  
TG: i have a hell of a lot of questions for you before i do anything you say!

UU: oh dear...  
UU: yoU certainly weren't kidding when yoU said yoU woUld be somewhat hostile!

TG: okay what the fuck does THAT mean  
TG: also why do u talk like that? are you a troll or something i know they use quirks  
TG: at least all the ones i knew did idk thats a troll thing im pretty sure

UU: it is indeed a troll thing!  
UU: bUt i am not a troll. i merely appreciate their cUltUre very much!  
UU: and what i meant was what i mentioned earlier, when i said that there are time travel shenanigans involved here!  
UU: this is not my first conversation with yoU, thoUgh it is yoUr first with me.

TG: ...  
TG: ok so lets pretend for a moment that i buy that mystery not a troll chick slash dude slash whatever  
TG: what did you want me to do anyway

UU: nothing harmfUl!  
UU: all i was going to do was give yoU a reqUest. one that yoU will probably have done anyway!  
UU: woUld you terribly mind checking the freer-minded news channels now?  
UU: that's all i have to say for now, so i avoid causal spoilers!  
UU: farewell my dear!

TG: wait no get the hell back here

\- UU [name unknown] is offline! –

_Dammit._ What the fuck was that whole conversation about? Lord English, a not-troll but someone who used a quirk (was that some sort of trollish cultural appropriation? Or was it just ... fanaticism on a small scale?), mentions of timeline stuff? She'd have to ask Dave about this for sure. But first...

She suspiciously eyed her computer and then opened an internet browser, even more suspiciously navigating to one of the more independent news sites. What was there that alien chick (that was her name, until further knowledge) wanted her to see?

The page loaded.

Roxy choked on her breath.

"Dave!" she shrieked, scrambling to get out of her chair and running down the hallway. "Dave, wake up! Wake up right now!"

He sat up with a jolt on the couch as she barreled into the room, eyes wide and hair messy and falling about her shoulders. Her face was full of shock and she knew it, but she couldn't help it at all as she looked at him.

"What's goin' on?" he demanded, jumping to his feet. Roxy was so distracted that she didn't even notice the concern in his voice or the way his hand automatically leapt for a sword hilt that wasn't at his side. "Roxy?"

"Come here," she said breathlessly, vanishing back into her room and turning the computer screen towards him. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my _god_!"

Dave strode towards her, a frown on his face and words on his lips that died immediately as he read the words, saw the picture. She saw anxiety turn to confusion to shock, quickly pushing the chair at him as he paled and sat down hard. "Holy shit," he breathed, unable to tear his eyes from the image for several seconds until he ran his hand through his hair and looked up at her face. "Holy _shit_."

Roxy nodded wordlessly, her eyes shining and her hands covering her mouth. "I—oh my god," she repeated, unable to find the words as she looked back at the screen.

_"__Attack on Mages' College Compound," _read the headline. _"Many missing students, and a strange message left behind_," added the subtitle.

There was an image of the "strange message", too, a piece of blood-stained paper attached to a spear, on whose point was the head of a man, face blurred. _The Shaded Prince Is Back_, the paper read, in strong, bold and slightly messy handwriting that Roxy would have recognized anywhere. _Have Fun Catching Us!_ Was added with a cheery scrawl that, judging by the way Dave was staring at the words, was one that belonged to either John or Jade.

UU couldn't have been further from Roxy's mind in that moment, her eyes glued to those words. Not everyone was dead. Oh, no, no indeed!

At least two of her friends were alive.

* * *

_AN: Aaand the plot thickens! Just a little, though. Things are going to come together, eventually!_

_And I'm sure someone's going to ask. Is Roxy/Gaen going to be a thing?_

_My answer: wait and see, I'm not spoiling anything! I will say that I do not intend on making an OC a huuuge character in this fic, though, so if you were worried about that, don't be._

_Meanwhile, be excited about other things :D like Dirk and Jade continuing to be bamfs and wrecking shit! Man, they're great. I love them so much._

_Finally, dang guys! I have so much to do these days. I sincerely hope I can update like, once a week, but if I can't, please don't hate me ;n; I'll try to update at least once every ten days, because going more than that is just lame. :c Hopefully my schedule will start being less hectic soon..._

_Thanks for reading! Thanks for reviewing, too! _

_Oh, on that note, 200 reviews (thank you, Pari :PPP)! That's super exciting :D I would offer fic requests but again, I'm swamped in things D: (maybe take this as a "redeem later" fic request coupon, anyone who reviews this chapter?)_

_Thanks again guys! :D_


	45. Chapter 45: Jade - A Day In The Life

_Suggested soundtrack - "V-Pop" by Lindsey Stirling._

* * *

The sun had just gone down, and the stars were starting to shine abovehead. The island was nice and peaceful at dusk—well, it was always peaceful, because it was deserted save for the two of them, but somehow the twilight hours that faded into night was just very calming. Jade watched the last of the rich hues of sunlight fade into the ocean, turning the water from a deep red to purple to dark, dark silvery blue. Finally, Dirk broke the silence, and she turned to face him.

"You know," he said, "this is kind of a sweet and almost easy way to live."

Jade looked at him quizzically, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "You mean this whole living on the run and blowing stuff up way of life that we've got going on?" Easy wasn't quite the word she'd have used.

"Yeah," he agreed. "There's no rules to follow because we're breaking 'em all, that's the point. So like there's no need to worry about fitting in and stuff, most of the time. Kinda liberating."

Ah, she got it now. He was still only a few months into this way of life—she had never found it particularly enjoyable, but John had had a phase when he thought it was kind of nice, and she didn't begrudge Dirk his ability to take pleasure in it. After all, it was better to be able to enjoy life however it came, rather than not, right?

Jade wished she could feel like that, too, but honestly she didn't like this life that much; she wanted to live together with her friends and family and just be happy. She didn't _want _to go overthrowing regimes and things; that was what lot she'd drawn, not what she wanted. If given the choice, she probably would have wanted to go to technical school and learn about the applications of interstellar technology, how to build and how to manipulate them. Just imagine what she could have done, combining science with Space magic! It would have been amazing, if she were able to do it. But that was just a dream.

"I guess!" she said with a little shrug, drying off the last of the dishes and handing it to Dirk to pack. "So, what do we do now?"

Dirk tucked the plate into the bag with the rest of them and stood, stretching, and offered her a hand to get to her feet. Accepting it, Jade pulled herself upright and then kept her fingers in his, smiling slightly as he didn't pull away either. Instead, he just looked down at her a bit thoughtfully until he finally spoke.

"Well," Dirk said, "we can always keep wrecking shit. Although we should come up with a better plan than just 'wreck shit', I think."

"Yes," Jade agreed teasingly, "that _probably_ is a good idea, yeah! Actually on that note, I think we might want to take a week or two off of doing these little hop in, hop out attack things." She drew him away from the campsite, towards the ocean, thinking it would be nice to take a little walk along the water's edge as they talked. "Especially the ones that are really far apart from each other, you know?"

Dirk frowned slightly. "Why would—oh," he said, realization dawning on him. "We wanna keep you on the down low, huh?"

"Yes, that would be good," Jade affirmed. "I don't know how many powerful Space mages there are on this planet, but I'm betting it isn't that many! It'd probably be better for us if we didn't give it away that one of us is all Spacey, at least not yet. There are only two of us, after all."

"Yeah," Dirk agreed, a little bit of a melancholy tone in his voice as he looked out to sea. "Only two of us."

Jade squeezed his hand encouragingly. "Hey! Remember what I told you earlier, okay? They're not dead, they're just ... missing, and we'll find them one day. They aren't dead, okay?" _They aren't dead,_ she repeated to herself. _They can't be dead!_

"Jade." His voice was more serious than light, and she stopped walking and turned to look at him, the waves rushing in to lap at their ankles. "Maybe that helps you, but honestly, I would rather not get my hopes up. It'll be a lot easier to think they're gone and be wrong than it will to think they're okay and be wrong." He sighed then, dropping his gaze to the swirling water around their feet, and then met her eyes again, almost daring her to come up with a contradictory response.

"I understand that," she said, fumbling for the right words—he was right, in a way; it _would _be easier to think they were dead and then be wrong, but she didn't know if they would ever find conclusive proof for sure. The more time that passed, the more sure she was that they would never know what really happened that night. "But I don't think we're ever going to find evidence one way or another! So... I just like to think that even if you and I never see them again, they might be out there somewhere, being happy."

Dirk was silent for a few moments. Then he began walking again, so Jade guessed the topic was being dropped for now—not that she wanted to keep discussing it, honestly. The thought of dead friends was a rather sad one that she didn't care to dwell on very much.

Instead, why not talk about live friends? "Dirk," she said, swinging their joined hands between them, "what do you say we go see Jake tomorrow?"

"I say that's a fucking great idea," Dirk replied. "Hell, let's just go to a city and pretend to be normal people again for a little while. I like that we don't have to all the time, but why don't we do some fun shit? Crash a party or something."

"So our plans for tomorrow are go demolish those communication crystals outside of Lonarre, and then head to... hmm, which city should we go to? Maybe Ensypi? And we'll go see Jake, and have fun for an evening?" Jade reaffirmed, looking up at her companion for confirmation. "Because that sounds like a great plan to me!"

"Music to my ears," Dirk agreed. "Let's do this shit. Tomorrow is going to be rad."

* * *

_Zap!_

A jolt of burgundy magic arced through the air, hitting the ground with a small explosion that was more than enough to destroy the communication mechanisms that lay there just barely below the surface. Dirk straightened, returning to a more casual posture, and looked over at Jade, who clapped her hands and cheered, "Good job! Your aim is getting way better!"

"Thanks. I guess it just takes practice," he agreed, a small flicker of pride in the grin that crossed his face at her praise. Turning to survey the wide, rolling hills all around them, covered in grass that swayed in the wind, peaceful as could be—it would be a few minutes until the Batterwitch's troops got out here to investigate the disrupted signal and found the rather substantial damage—he nodded once, looking back at her to ask, "Well, looks like we're all done here, yeah?"

"Yup," Jade agreed, holding out her hands. "C'mere, you! We've got a evening of fun activities and no blowing stuff up to get to!"

Dirk grinned, sauntering over to place his hands in hers. "Of course, I wouldn't want to keep you waiting."

Jade laughed as she concentrated on the image of their island, the location of it in her mind and in space, and then let the world dissolve, melt away into the green brightness between places, until it reformed a second or two later into white sand and glimmering waves, tall bluffs and green trees that looked warm and homelike in the late morning light. Here was home again!

It was kind of funny, like she'd come full circle—this was the home she'd known first, and now it was the one she'd probably call home until the end. Unless something else calamitous happened, which wasn't totally unlikely given her and Dirk's current line of work, but she preferred to hope for the best!

The sea breeze picked up, ruffling her hair, and Jade smiled into the wind. "There was this one time," she said, looking out to sea with a nostalgic gleam in her eyes, "when it was just me and John. Nanna and Grandpa had gone out for a little daytrip because Grandpa wanted to show Nanna one of the tiny islands out there, but the big boat was broken and stuff so they left us here. And we got this bright idea to go to the beach! Which normally would be fine, but John got this notion in his head that he could build a sand castle by blowing wet sand into place..."

"Oh my god," Dirk snorted, even before she finished the story. "How long were you guys sitting there crying thanks to all that sand in your eyes?"

"A while," Jade laughed. "But it took even longer to get all of the sand out of my hair!"

"I can imagine," he said dryly, ruffling her hair fondly. "You used to have it really long, right?"

"Yup, it was way down here," she nodded, holding a hand near her hips. "But then it ended up needing to get trimmed anyway, so Rose fixed it up for me. I'm just glad it's finally long enough that I can tie it back out of my face again!"

Dirk nodded, that smirk she'd become so accustomed to playing across his lips. "Oh, of course. I know that that's a real problem."

Jade laughed and in response, reached up and ruffled his (much shorter) hair. "I don't know, I can sure see you wearing some ribbons and bows up here!"

"Hell yes. I could look so fucking cute, you have no idea."

"Even cuter than normal?" she teased, unclasping the brooch that held her cloak in place and shaking it out, then folding it and laying it nestled among the piles of things around their little beach shelter. "I don't know if that's possible, Dirk!"

"That's what I mean," he agreed. "You have no idea."

A few minutes later, they had both put away their traveling-slash-havoc-wreaking clothes and changed into things more fitting of people in cities, less suited to life on the run and camping out. Jade looked down at herself and the blue dress she wore, then shrugged and nodded to herself—it was good enough. She grabbed the small bag of little gifts to take to Jake's place and then steppd outside, looking for her companion. "All ready, mister cute boy?" she asked Dirk as he approached, clad in a richly embroidered orange and golden tunic. "Too bad we didn't think to ever pick up some hair ribbons for you!"

"Well, we're going out this evening," he pointed out with a roguish grin. "I'm sure we can stop by a clothing store, get some fancy shit like ribbons and bows while restocking all our usual supplies and whatnot."

Jade giggled. "Oh, of course!" she said. "I should have known. Anyway, let's go, it's been so long since we went to see Jake!"

"Like two weeks," Dirk said, but he came close enough for Jade to take his hand again, and once again the world melted away into green.

This time, when they reappeared, it was in Jake's living room. The lights were off and not even any candles were lit—sometimes there were power outages here, which is why he had a good supply of those—and the entire place was oddly quiet.

"I guess he isn't home yet," Jade said, looking around with a little bit of bewilderment. "What time is it, anyway?"

Dirk frowned, then checked the clock on the wall. "Oh, that explains it. Yeah, he won't be home for another half an hour or so. He works late every other night."

"Oh," Jade sighed. "Well, it looks like we have half an hour to spend doing nothing... and somehow I feel like going out might not be the best idea we've ever had, you know?"

"Nonsense," Dirk drawled sarcastically. "We should definitely go walking around here, especially me. There is absolutely no chance that something could go wrong."

She laughed, plopping down on the single armchair. "I guess we can just chill here then! It's too bad he only has this little place... I wonder if there's a way we can get him a few more funds so he can move out of here. It isn't a really good neighborhood, you know?"

Dirk shrugged. "I mean, we could, but then he'd have to explain where he suddenly got money to anyone curious, so... that might be harder to cover."

"I know," Jade agreed, a little downcast. "It was just a thought."

"Yeah, I know," he said, coming closer and then looking down at the chair. "Get up."

She complied, waiting for him to sit down before she settled herself again, this time squeezing in so that she was sitting with her legs across his lap and leaning against his arm—a bit awkward, but it was the easiest way to let them both sit in the solo chair. "I'm kind of tired. Weird, I'm usually not at this time of day..."

"Well, we have been doing a lot of globe hopping. Probably we're both a bit tuckered out because we're used to it being like three hours past midnight right now."

"True," she nodded, laying her head against his shoulder. "I might fall asleep on you."

"Go ahead, I'm not goin' anywhere," came the response, and she closed her eyes, letting her mind drift...

What seemed like hardly a few seconds later, Jade opened her eyes to see a blurry Jake standing in front of the armchair, a look of surprised delight on his face. "—amazing to see you both!" he was saying.

Jade bounded up and flung her arms around him, laughing as he scooped her up off the ground and twirled her around once, twice, thrice before he set her down again. "I've missed you so much!" she exclaimed, leaning her forehead against his, taking in the brilliant smile he gave her in response.

Dirk stood, too, and gave Jake a solid bro-fist or whatever they called it as Jade stepped back, still beaming. "Good to see you too," he said with a little quirk of a grin.

"What brings you two to this neck of the woods this evening?" Jake asks, still squeezing both of their hands tightly and looking on with wonder.

"We wanted to come see you, of course!" Jade giggled, hugging him again. "Oh, oh, and we brought—where did I leave it?—oh! There it is," she whirled around, looking all over the room before grabbing the bag of little goodies. "Here's some things for you! I made sure to get some more tea like we got last time over in Sevoir, the kind with the jasmine that you really liked!"

Jake's eyes widened as she pulled out the boxes of tea, then the few books, and finally the extra communicator. "Good gracious! All of this for me?"

"Yep. Pretty nice haul, huh?" Dirk said with a grin, surveying their collection proudly.

"I'd say!"

"Wanna make some of this tea?" Jade suggested, still beaming—oh, she loved when they came to see Jake, she'd missed him so much and she never really even knew how much he meant to her until she saw him again! "We can sit around and catch up!"

"I would love that," Jake agreed warmly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders for a quick hug. "Thank you both!"

The three of them sat together for several hours, drinking their afternoon tea together as they talked and swapped stories. Jake expressed his concern for both of their safety and Jade and Dirk assured him that they would be careful, they exchanged laughter and smiles, and all in all had a lovely evening. Finally, though, it drew to a close—Jake had work in the early morning, and neither Dirk or Jade wanted to keep him up terribly late, so they promised to come by again soon and said their farewells, and then after she finally, finally _finally _managed to let go of Jake, Jade stepped back and took Dirk's hand and once again let the world dissolve.

This time, when they reappeared, it was in a moderately sized city a ways west of the Imperial City, one called Ensypi. Together they exited the narrow alleyway they'd materialized in, Jade looked around at the many bright, bright lights all around, advertising stores and clubs and restaurants and all sorts of lovely places that they could visit, then up at Dirk.

"Where to first?" she asked, looping her arm through his. "I vote we just go have fun! One of those dance clubs or something. And we can get some food in there too! Maybe... how about that one!" she pointed to a place not too far down the street that looked pretty nice—it had a relatively well lit front and was well-decorated too.

Dirk considered for a moment, then shrugged and nodded. "Sure, why the hell not. I haven't been to one of those in almost a year, though—I only ever went in the first place whenever Rox dragged me along. And food first."

"I haven't been in even longer than you haven't," Jade smiled. The last time she had gone out to a place like this downtown entertainment district had been before they fled on the run after Rose's mother died, so... over two years. Wow. Time sure flies when you, uh... well, that statement wasn't really applicable. She wouldn't exactly call the last few years 'having fun'. "Think of it this way! We're two robotics-loving nerds trying to be social."

"Excuse you, I'm a fucking cool as ice robot lover," Dirk interjected. "With imaginary hair bows and everything."

"Alright, but answer me this!" Jade countered, skipping around so that she could seize his hands and walk backwards, trusting that he wouldn't let her trip and fall or anything. "Who told you that you can't be cool and a nerd at the same time? Because that buster was _wrong_!" she laughed, casting a quick look down to her feet and then pulling Dirk around in a circle, laughing still. Oh, this was wonderful! They hadn't been here long at all but this atmosphere of the bright and happy night was already getting to her—when was the last time she did things that most seventeen year old girls did, anyway? It was nice to take an evening and visit family and pretend things were okay.

"Fair point," he grinned in response, then dropped her hands to gallantly sweep open the door of the restaurant-club combo that they were headed for. Jade giggled at him as she entered and he followed, the two of them walking to a table. It lit up as they approached and sat, and the menu options popped up on the holoscreen in the center as Jade spun around in her hoverchair, giggling. They placed their orders and settled in to wait, listening to the music for a few moments. The dance floor was off to the side, and there was a good crowd of silhouettes moving to the electronic beat; Jade watched for a few minutes before she turned back to Dirk.

"So," she said, leaning forward and placing her arms on the clear glass surface, "what do you think? Today's been pretty good, right?"

Mirroring her pose somewhat, Dirk nodded. "Yeah. We should do shit like this more often, maybe. I mean, coming out for dinner was a nice idea, and we're financially sound enough that it's doable, so hey, why not."

They were financially sound because Jade was kind of good at vanishing small piles of gold from the Batterwitch's inventories, but shh, no one had to know that! "Yes! We should. They're like little friend dates!"

Just then, the table lit up as their serverbot approached, wordlessly placing the two trays of food on the table. "Will that be all?" it asked.

"Yup!" Jade nodded, Dirk echoing her words. The bot gave a nod in affirmation and then retreated, both of them watching it go, wobbling a little bit on its upright axis as it floated away.

"I think it'd work a little better if they used a smaller gyroscope in the hoverplate core, near the bottom," Dirk commented. "They overcompensated, so it's still shaky."

"Either that," Jade tapped her finger against her chin, her eyes narrowed in thought at the retreating bot's back, "or they need to recalibrate the stabilizers. That's more likely than a oversized gyroscope, if you ask me!"

"True," he agreed. "Human error is at fault in both cases, but I think you're right. Stabilizer calibration is more common than gyroscope issues, but all the same looking at the others, I don't notice the same kind of wobble. That makes me think it's less of neglect of routine maintenance, and more of a particular issue with this one, but you could be right."

"Hmm, that's a good point," Jade conceded. "I hadn't really looked at the others!"

They lapsed into a comfortable, companionable silence, each eating their food. Jade let her gaze wander to the dance floor again, all aglow in a wash of colored lights. The music playing was a song she'd never heard before, but the beat sure was catchy! She caught herself tapping her foot in time under the table, and then nudged Dirk's foot, giggling. He raised an eyebrow across the table at her and then nudged her leg right back.

A few minutes passed in this fashion, with idle conversation striking up now and then. Mostly they just ate and sat together, not needing the words too much. Jade listened to the music and the people around them, just content to observe and enjoy the sensations of being around people and being normal once again. She hadn't realized how much she missed being around ... around anyone, really; she just hated being alone. Being with Dirk was nice—amazing, even; he was definitely one of her best friends ever, on the same level as Dave and Rose, probably, and she loved him—but she craved company sometimes. So this was very welcome! Especially after an evening spent with Jake; she was glad for tonight. Tonight was wonderful, and she wouldn't have traded it for anything.

Jade's gaze drifted to the dancers again, and she smiled as she idly tapped her fingers against the tabletop. The song playing was drawing to a close as she finished her food, and the next one began. It was a slower one, a bit familiar—she had heard it somewhere, but she couldn't quite place it.

"You wanna dance or something?" Dirk asked, following her gaze. "Because I mean, I'd be willing to give it a shot but I don't think that I'd be any good."

"Well, me neither," she laughed. "Sure, let's do it! Why not. After all, no one knows us, and we probably won't be back here too soon anyway!"

"So if we make total fools of ourselves, we'll be able to pretend it never happened, is that what you're saying?" he laughed, but he stood too, dusting off his hands and then holding one out to her. Jade laced her fingers with his and then giggled as he pulled her off the chair, both of them walking to the dance floor. Really, though, this song was starting to bother her—she'd heard it before! She was sure of it!

It wasn't until it hit the chorus and she and Dirk were swaying in each other's arms amid the throng that she realized, the memory hitting her like a ton of bricks. She knew this song, she knew that voice...

"Jade?" Dirk asked, because she'd stopped moving, but she barely could hear him over the sudden ringing in her ears.

"I—uh, I think I need to sit down," she heard herself gasp out as if from a long distance, her mind not on that at all because it was like she was sitting in the woods a year ago all over again, next to the tent with Dave as he played her the newest song he'd written.

This was Dave's song.

Dave couldn't have released a song here if he was dead. That meant... that meant he couldn't be dead, he was alive somewhere and that confirmation, that assurance that what she'd wished for was true, was something beyond what she'd hoped for.

She had to find him.

But how?

* * *

_AN: Hahahhaahahaaa... okay I have no excuses, I'm really sorry. I may as well give up on a consistent update schedule, apparently. I don't know why it's just not happening these days - I do have a much busier school schedule this semester, which might have something to do with it. Sorry, guys! D: I will try to update more frequently ;n;_

_That said, I am now going to indulge in a shameless self-promo and ask you guys to also check out my story Twilight and Shadow! It's a Zelda AU (DaveJade as main pairing) and is friendly if you have never played the games c: so give it a read, maybe, if you want! I swear I'll update that soon too haha!_

_I don't really know why I picked that one song for the suggested soundtrack, but it was what I was listening to while writing the latter half of this chapter, so that's sort of the mood for the restaurant, I guess. Either way, it's a neat song! _

_Hm... was there anything else I wanted to tell you? If there was I forgot. Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing! _


	46. Chapter 46: Rose - Sights

Rose rolled over tiredly, letting out a slight sigh as she looked up into the deepening evening sky. It wasn't that late, the sun barely having set, but the stars were already barely starting to shine in the eastern edge of the sky. Apparently, her nap had been a bit longer than intended.

"Sleep well?" John's voice drew her attention, and she lifted her head to see him sitting next to her, fiddling with something in his hands that she couldn't quite see. Pushing herself up into a sitting position, supported heavily on one arm, she shrugged and nodded, giving him a lopsided little smile.

"Yes, though I can't help but note that it certainly is more than an hour after mid-afternoon," she said.

"Well, you just looked so peaceful sleeping for once, and I know you haven't been sleeping too well for months now. No way I was gonna wake you up!" he defended, giving her a little shake of his head. "You gotta get your rest, too."

Rose considered that for a moment. Yes, it was true, she did feel a lot more like herself after that long nap. And it really wasn't a big deal, so she just shrugged it off and dropped the issue, blowing out a breath and sitting up properly. She ran her fingers through her mussed hair and then smiled slightly at John, but he dropped his gaze to the item in his hands again, and her smile faded.

"John?" she asked quietly, leaning forward to look. He didn't hide it from her gaze, so she peered over and then let out a soft "oh" in realization.

"Yeah," he said quietly, not looking up from the little pendant on his palm. It was nothing special to look at, just a little green stone wrapped in wire and hung from a chain, but it was valuable beyond words simply for the reason that Jade Harley had worn it around her neck for years.

"I didn't know you had that," she murmured, touching his shoulder. "You've been carrying it this long..."

"She fell asleep wearing it that night," he answered. "Usually when she falls asleep wearing jewelry, it gets all tangled in her hair, so I took it off for her. I meant to give it to her in the morning, but..."

But that, obviously, didn't happen. Rose sighed to herself, biting her lip and then quickly stopping herself because that was a bad habit that had led to very chapped lips and a good deal of pain in the past. "I wish ... I wish I could do something, or that I _could _have done something. But then again, if nothing was done, it was never meant to happen, was it?"

"It's almost time for the midsummer festival, back home," John said instead of replying. "Remember that? She always used to love dragging you and me along and getting us to play in the fountains with her because that was the one day it was okay for people who aren't two to actually do that."

"I remember," Rose replied, a note of wistfulness in her voice. "I remember. Those were good days."

"I miss her," he admitted, dropping his voice. It still cracked, and she slid the hand on his shoulder around him, pulling him against her side.

"So do I," Rose murmured, lifting her other hand to stroke his hair gently. He fell silent for a few heartbeats, leaving her to quietly stew among her thoughts, considering her old friends and the life she used to lead, the one she might have had, and the one she lived now. It was, perhaps, a slightly dismal train of thought, but she supposed it was one that she would have to consider at some point, was it not?

The truth of the matter was that she still couldn't bring herself to admit that they were all gone, gone for good. It was just too much of a loss to comprehend, maybe—she had hardly been able to deal with the loss of her mother the first time, and that was only one person. Now, she'd lost her cousin, who had been there her whole life; she'd lost her best friend, the girl who had somehow squeezed her way into Rose's heart and had been there to brighten her day for years; she'd lost Roxy. She'd lost her mother, again, but somehow this time it felt _worse_, if that was possible. This time, it was like she'd lost a second chance, squandered it from her own stupidity and risky behavior.

"It's not your fault," John mumbled, as if he was sensing her thoughts. "Not your doing."

"What?" she asked, startled out of her mind's wanderings. "How did you—"

"I don't need to be a seer to be observant," he replied in a voice that normally might be tart but now was just a little tired and a little sad, and had any sting removed by the comfortable way his head nestled on her shoulder. "I'm your _friend_, Rose. I know you well enough to guess. Except it isn't really a guess because pretty much every time you stare off into space with that look, it's really obvious that you're beating yourself up in your head. Stop it."

_There's a particular expression associated with self-doubt and crippling guilt?_ she wondered with a touch of a bitter smile. Wasn't that just lovely. Perhaps she wasn't as secure in her own mental secrecy as she would have liked to think. But ah well, if she wasn't as good a seer as she had thought, who was to say that she was any good at anything at all? Certainly not she herself. That would be presumptuous and—

Out of the blue, a sudden breeze tousled her hair, making the silky blonde locks fly everywhere and making Rose sputter as she tried to tuck them back out of her eyes and mouth. "John!"

"Stop it," John said, a hint of a mischievous smile on his face as he sat up, gently tucking her hair behind her ear for her. "You were doing the sad face again. Stop it."

"I suppose I have no choice in the matter," she said with a slight laugh, letting the melancholy moment be carried away on the wind. John was smiling again, and so was she. They were both more than adept at cheering each other up, she supposed; maybe this would be enough. Moving on to more pragmatic concerns, she looked around the little clearing. "Where's Jane?"

"She's digging through the bags in the tent to see if we have any oregano. Said she swore she bought some last time we stopped, but I don't think we have any more." John shrugged, the details of the food seemingly unconcerning to him. "She wants stew for dinner, so we're having stew."

"Ah," Rose said. Looking back down at the pendant, she reached over and picked it up, admiring the way the last light of the setting sun glimmered in the green stone. Then she shifted behind John and fastened it around his neck, patting his shoulder as she did so. "There, now we can be sure you won't drop it."

He lightly skimmed his fingers over the chain, touching the stone briefly before he dropped his hand to his lap, turning his head to give her a small but genuine smile. "Thanks, Rose."

She smiled back, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "Anytime."

* * *

"Hey," John's voice roused her. "Your turn for watch."

Shaking her head and trying to drop the sleepiness, Rose sighed, blinking at the darkness a few times. Her blankets were cozy and warm and Jane was all snuggled up against her side, one arm thrown across her waist, but watch was watch, and John needed to rest too.

"I'm up," she said, pushing herself into a sitting position and carefully extricating herself from Jane. The other girl sighed in her sleep, but didn't wake, though she did try to hold on to Rose. "Get some sleep, John."

"Planning on it," he said, giving her a little crooked grin in the dim light of the moons through the tent flap. After a moment of manuevering in the small space, he was lying where she had been a moment ago, under all the comfortable blankets, and she left the tent, closing the flap behind her.

They were still near the seashore, a ways further west than they had been earlier. There was an old Skaian road running through this region—many, many years ago it had been a center of commerce, Rose thought, but these days trade didn't travel over land. It flew or rode in starships, or in some special cases for the very rich, things were teleported. But it was hard to get access to teleportative devices; they were very expensive and rather nuanced, elaborate, and sometimes risky compared to the simple magic of Space. Which was really a whole other can of worms. The bottom line was, this place was unused now, though the ancient road made traveling easier, and teleportation was really hard.

Well, really hard, unless one was friends with Jade Harley.

Rose let out a breath, starting to pace around the campsite. She _missed _Jade and Dave more than words could say, more than thoughts could think. Their loss—on her shoulders or not—was a heavy, heavy burden to bear, like a gaping hole in her chest. And it wasn't that she didn't love Jane, because she did care deeply for the girl, but... every time she woke up with a head of dark hair on her shoulder, she immediately thought it was Jade. And that kind of hurt.

Then again, Jane doubtlessly sometimes thought that the tall and slender girl next to her was Roxy, too.

It was just rather odd. Before now, Rose never would have thought that she would say she missed the old days—not the old old days, because she missed those every second of every hour of every day, but the days even after her mother had died and she'd been on the run with John, Jade, and Dave. They hadn't been totally happy, but they had all been together, and they'd had a lot of good days. Sometimes she'd been able to forget that it wasn't a big camping trip.

She couldn't do that with just John and Jane, though. It was a little hard to put her finger on why, but she just... couldn't.

One circuit completed, she returned to her original post, gazing up at the starry sky contemplatively. The nice thing about being out here was that they were all alone, situated on a slight rise amid the rocks that allowed them to be able to see anyone coming across the flat land from miles away. That meant no surprises, and that meant time to think.

As it often did, when she sat alone and thought, Rose's mind wandered back to that night, that one night that shattered everything she'd thought she'd had. Falling rocks, Roxy's shriek, John's scream for Jade as the main room fell, explosions, flame...

Overall, not a good memory.

Sometimes, she entertained the notion that maybe someone other than herself, John, and Jane survived. Maybe Jade teleported herself out to safety. That was somewhat likely. Maybe Roxy dodged the rocks. That was less likely, but still possible, although the possibility that Roxy had been trapped and had died of suffocation was equally viable. Dave ... Dave probably didn't make it, with his broken leg and all. And Dirk had been barely able to get out of bed. And Jake had surely survived, but they couldn't go back to the Imperial City to see him, nor could they send him a message that was anything short of extremely coded and encrypted. Jade would have had the technological know-how to do that, but none of the three of them did. As it was, the fate of the other five members of her friends and family lay shrowded in shadow.

Light could pierce that shadow, though.

Rose glanced almost furtively back at the tent. No, no one was stirring; it was just her and the wide, empty world. If she were to be honest with herself, she would admit that the fact that she had to check to make sure she was alone—hiding from her friends—should indicate that this was a bad idea, but... since when had Rose Lalonde ever been honest with herself, truly?

And she _hated _not knowing things, even if after how close she'd come to falling again, she was terrified of Seeing. But surely she could hold herself together and look anyway. John and Jane were being paranoid, nothing would happen.

So she closed her eyes and opened the inner ones, letting out a deep breath.

_Focus, clear your mind..._

One breath in. Hold it. Imagine a vast, empty field, extending everywhere, waiting to be filled. Breathe out.

It was sort of like leaving her body and drifting up and up and away, but instead of the physical world she saw a realm of memories and things yet to come. At the top of it was the thing hardest to reach but most valuable to the Seer, and at the bottom—well, let's just say she didn't want to go to the bottom. She should search through the visions and sights here, to see if she could find the ones she was looking for, the ones that would show her what happened to her friends. She had to hurry, though; staying too long would mean she would be even more tired.

A flicker of fear reared its head in the back of her mind. The bottom of the figurative globe, waiting to be explored, was a place that terrified her, because it grabbed you and dragged you down and held you there amid the curses and pain and absolute_ agony_ of lost magic that should never be found, and she never ever wanted to go back down there again after the first time or how close she'd come last time and—

The darkness that stemmed from down there grew, just enough to be ominous and frightening.

Rose had forgotten that they fed on fear.

_Stay calm_, she told herself. _Breathe. Remember to breathe._

Oh, these were the basics of training every seer received! She should never have come here, not in the middle of the night while she felt all alone and frightened—what kind of idiot was she! She was a _Light _mage! Why was she Seeing at night?

_Yes_, whispered a sibilant, cold voice. _You were wrong before, but you are right now. Come... we can help you._

No, no no no, no no no no no no—not this, not this not this never this again!

_You are afraid of your own power, little Seer. We are ancient,we have been here for long, long ages. Trust us. We know the right path. We can help you see it._

No! She refused to give in to this ever again. She gave in once before, when she was innocent and small and hurting, but this—this is what had broken that sweet girl, this is what twisted her and destroyed her and left what Rose was now, and she would never, ever go back. Where—where was the Light? If she could reorient herself in the darkness, find the brightness of her own magic before it was snuffed out by these things, she could be okay, she could find her way home.

_Little one, why do you seek to leave? Do you not wish to know what became of your ... friends?_

She froze.

"What can you tell me?"

Every bit of her was screaming that this was a bad idea, a bad idea, a terrible idea—but she had to know. Were they alive? This might be her only chance. After all, she knew she would not be attempting a trance again anytime soon. Maybe if she'd done this at dawn, when her own power was strongest, she could have been alright, could have actually done what she'd come here to do, but... in the middle of the night, it was not her best idea.

_Come closer_, the voice hissed triumphantly. _Come closer, and I will tell you._

Rose did not budge. "You will tell me, and then you will leave me alone."

_Oh, so imperious!_ What followed might have been a chuckle, but it was hideous and terrifying, a sound that she was sure would haunt her nightmares. It was probably good that these horrific beings were always surrounded by darkness, because looking upon one might scar her forever. _At least one is not dead. More than that, I will not tell you. What have I to gain?_

"The satisfaction of philanthropic decency?" she suggested, already starting to withdraw. If she could get away from it, back to her own mind, away from this collective insight, she would be safe to digest the information she'd just received.

_So terribly amusing, too... what a nice pet you make, child. Stay awhile longer, like last time. Yes, just like last time..._

This time, it sent a vision at her, a vision of last time, a vision of darkness and pain and horror and grief and black, black rage, of tears and sorrow and terror and not being Rose anymore, of becoming like them—

Rose jerked and _screamed._

In a matter of seconds, there were pounding footsteps and panicked voices nearby, but she didn't really register any of it, frozen in horror and fear with her heart beating faster and faster against her ribs.

"Rose!"

There were tears on her face and someone was touching her, there were hands on her shoulders and her back and why was anyone here, no no no stop stop let her _go_ she needed to run away from it all—

"Rose! Stop! Rose, stop it!"

"Let me go! No! Please!" she sobbed, gasping for breath and struggling with all her might. Everything was still dark and she didn't understand and she needed to flee!

The hands went away. "Rose, look at me."

Her nails dug into her palms, but something in her wasn't letting her get up. She stared at the ground as another sob tore its way from her throat.

"Look at me."

She turned her head, slowly, slowly... oh. Oh. Oh, no... no, she was safe now. That was John and Jane. John and Jane being there meant she wasn't _there_, she was in her own body and her own mind and she was safe. John was the one who had been trying to hold her, sitting on his

"What happened?" Jane asked, her eyes wide and her face full of concern. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, I know what happened," John said, frowning. "She tried a trance again, I bet. Rose, what were you thinking? Wait—no, don't answer that. I'm sorry. C'mere." He held out his arms, and she let herself fall against him, shaking. "Hey... you're safe, it's okay. We've got you, don't cry..."

"Rose..." Jane came forward, too, kneeling and placing a hand on her shoulder supportively. "Rose, it's alright! Please don't cry."

"I'm—I'm fine," she muttered. Both John and Jane made similar sounds of derision.

"Oh, please," Jane said, as John retorted "And my grandmother's a watermelon!"

"A watermelon?" Rose echoed, startled into a smile for a moment, though it faded quickly. "Why a watermelon?"

John seemed almost sheepish. "I, uh, was going to say 'a terrible cook', but that seemed wrong on a lot of levels. Especially because she's sitting right there, you know?"

"I'm not a watermelon," Jane said, coming back to the original topic and shaking her head. "And you aren't fine. Come on, Rose! We've been through this. Don't pretend we can't see you right now!"

Rose let out a deep, shaky breath. There were stars up there, and the moons, each of them giving off light in the dark sky. She wasn't alone, and she was safe. "I'm not fine," she finally said. "But I'm going to be."

"Yes, you are," John agreed. "Did... you know. Did something happen?"

"I ran," she said simply. "Something tried to happen, but I ran away. But it gave me a bad vision as I was trying to leave."

Jane looked a bit clueless. Rose made a mental note to fill her in later, when she was in a better frame of mind.

"Why did you do it?" John sighed, the question as rhetorical as they come. He leaned his cheek against her temple, and she felt herself relaxing a little, the tension and terror that had gripped her a few moments past starting to drain away. "You shouldn't have. You need to take care of yourself!"

"I was curious, I had to know," she explained, her voice tremulous. She tried her best to harden it, to make it steady and okay. "I had to know."

"Had to know what?"

Had to know, had to know, she had to know about the rest of them, about whether she was totally useless, about so many things—

"Enough!"

That was Jane's voice. Rose blinked, pulled from the thoughts that were slowly starting to come back in a terrifying little trickle, to see the other girl shaking her head.

"Let her rest, John, she's not alright and she's scared out of her mind! We can talk about this in the morning. I'll take the rest of her watch, you both go back to bed!" She pointed at the tent—the small, stiflingly dark tent.

"No," Rose sat up, her eyes wide. "I can't—don't make me go in there right now. Please. I'll just... I'll just stay out here with you."

Jane softened. "Okay. Just a tic." She darted back to the tent and emerged with a blanket, which she gently draped over Rose, and then she plopped down next to her and John, reaching over to wrap her arms around Rose. "John, at least you should get some rest..."

"I'll go in a little bit," he said, looking down at Rose softly. "But I'm gonna stay with you for a few minutes first, okay?"

She pulled the blanket around herself a little more warmly. "Okay," she said. They spent the next few minutes all curled up together in one comforting pile, until Rose finally found herself feeling back to normal again. In the morning they would deal with this, but for now, she would just rest.

* * *

_AN: Wow. I didn't think I'd finish this today but hey, it happened! Two updates in a month is good, right? :P_

_The whole horrorterror/grimdark thing is so fun to write and explore. Later we might be seeing a lot more of "what is magic and how does it work anyway", so here's a little sneak peek of that sort of thing, I guess. (The horrorterrors are the drawback of being a Seer. Everything comes with a price!)_

_I would once again apologize for long waits between chapters, but I think you've grown to understand that I'm a dinosaur. Oh well._

_Thanks for reading and reviewing! Reviews motivate me to write a little faster ;n;_


	47. Chapter 47: Roxy - Looking Forward

"Dave! Pass the garlic already, will you?"

Dave looked over to Roxy, his eyebrows raised. "Chill just a few goddamn minutes, will you? C'mon, it takes more than like five seconds to peel a full head of garlic. There's all these layers to it you know, like onions but worse, because they're clingy. Garlic's like the onion from hell, with all these weird-ass monsters and ogres and shit that just grows them and throws 'em up here at us and we think it tastes good because hell is where we all belong."

"Okay," she said, hands on her hips, "but in the time it took you to explain all that, I bet you coulda just peeled it already!"

"I'm workin' on it!" he protested, thrusting the bowl at her. "Here, have whatever is in there already. Why the fuck are we making an actual meal anyway?"

Roxy shrugged, taking the few peeled cloves and starting to slice them neatly to put in the frying pan as garnish. "I wanted actual food today. Don't you ever get sick of crackers and apple juice?"

"Sick of apple juice?" Dave repeated. "The hell is wrong with you, Lalonde?"

She paused, gave him an incredulous stare that lasted several seconds, and then shook her head. "Man, and people said _I _was ridiculous." The teasing was lighthearted—banter was very common in this household, it turned out. They both had quick tongues and quicker wits, and thick skins to boot, so this was their wonderful way of showing off that good ol' familial love!

"You totally are," he shrugged, stretching his arms above his head—the picture of indolent ease. Roxy flicked a piece of garlic at him.

"Keep peeling!"

"Why do you even need this much goddamn garlic?" he groaned, but complied with her orders. Soon, dinner was ready—enough of it to be leftovers for the next few days, which was why she needed "this much goddamn garlic"—and two plates of hot curry and bread were sitting enticingly on the countertop.

"Looks good, right?" Roxy beamed, clasping her hands together and surveying their combined handiwork. "I think it looks good. Didn't even know I could cook stuff like this, but hey! Hell yeah I can cook!"

"If it looks so good, why aren't we eating it yet?" Dave asked.

"Good question," she said, grabbing a plate and stuffing a bite into her mouth—ow ow ow hot hot!

Dave snorted, amused, as he handed her a glass of water. "Guess that's why."

"It's hot," Roxy panted as soon as she finished gulping down said glass of water, fanning her face with one hand. Dave gave her a raised eyebrow and a sarcastic look of shock.

"No shit, really? I had no idea."

Rolling her eyes, she flicked his shoulder before turning neatly on her heel to go refill the glass. "Yes, Davey, didn't you know? Hot food is hot!" she returned, complete with a dazzling smile sent at him over her shoulder. God, but it was hard not to laugh at almost all of their inane conversations.

"Holy fuck, I think you're on to something," he replied drolly. "Better call whoever you call when there's a huge scientific breakthrough. Imagine that, hot food is hot!"

Roxy laughed as she picked up her plate, walking out of the kitchen to go sit on the couch to watch the evening news, which had started about two minutes ago. It was always pretty censored—although these days, that sometimes changed, which was interesting to look for. She really wanted to find out more, but she also wanted to stay totally under the radar, and that meant no illegal digging around, right?—but it was better than no news and staying totally ignorant of everything.

Dave followed, plopping down on the couch and putting his sock-clad feet up on the coffee table. She followed suit, elegantly crossing her ankles and less elegantly slouching against the cushions on the other side. The holoscreen was already displaying the night's broadcast, on one of the channels that sometimes had actual news and not superficial "worry not, all is under control" and other fake things that didn't actually matter but filled time.

"..._and in the Imperial City, today Her Imperiousness released a statement to address the recent minor unrest of the past few months,"_ the newscaster was saying. Roxy raised an eyebrow. "_It reads, 'Various dissidents have been threatening the peace of our community, and as I and all the others under my command are extremely committed to keeping that peace so that all may prosper, we want it known we will not tolerate any more of their problematic behaviors. Whatever happens from here is on their shoulders.' For more on this story, we turn to our correspondent in the Imperial City..."_

"Huh," Dave snorted. "Whaddya make of that, Rox?"

She could already tell he was skeptical, probably deriding the whole 'committed to peacekeeping and prosperity' bullshit line. But that wasn't really the important part, was it?

No, she was more interested in the "whatever happens from here" bit. That seemed a little ominous, like she was warning that she wasn't going to hold back or something. It wasn't like her forces hadn't already marched on protestors before, but ... still, this was a little concerning.

"If you ask me," she said, "it sounds like she's getting impatient. What about, I'm not sure. Everything gets covered up, after all. I'm surprised they even mentioned the 'minor unrest', honestly."

"That's another thing, though," Dave went on, leaning forward almost eagerly. "_What_ recent minor unrest? Nothing's happened since they blew us all up, I thought. Except for Dirk and Jade being alive, but they haven't been in the City, have they?"

"That, I don't know," Roxy sighed, drumming her fingers impatiently against the armrest and then blowing on some steaming food. Dirk and Jade were out there, doing stuff, but they were really damn good at covering their tracks. She couldn't find them. It was infuriating, knowing they were so close (well, close being a relative term) and yet unreachable. "Maybe they have."

He frowned, clearly not liking the idea. "Why the hell would they do that? There's no reason for them not to get out of there. Especially because Jade can go literally fucking anywhere. I'm surprised they're still on the planet, honestly."

"I don't know that either," she huffed. Yeah, he was asking rhetorically, but... it still kind of rubbed her the wrong way, not having answers. Roxy liked having answers to questions. She just had way too many of the latter, these days, and nowhere near enough of the former. And also pretty much no way to _get _answers.

If only she had a nice convenient source she could just go ask things from.

...Wait.

"Hold my plate a second," she held it out to Dave, hopping up from the couch to head to the doorway where she'd left her stuff after getting home from work. Her computer was still in her bag, and she quickly pulled it out, waving the holoscreen up in front of her and typing in her password.

"What're you doing?" Dave asked, leaning over to peer at the screen. Roxy booted up her chat application, taking her plate back as she waited for it to load.

"Asking some questions," she answered, forcing down a giggle at the intentionally cryptic, dramatic answer. It was just fun to do that! But she'd also actually explain. "Remember how that weird person, troll... thing, whatever, contacted me to tell me to figure out Dirk and Jade were still around? I'm going to see if I can contact them this time."

"Can you trust that, though?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"Probably not," she shook her head. "But they might drop some hints without meaning to. I don't know yet! But I thought it might be worth a shot."

He shrugged and nodded at that. "Worth a shot, yeah. Just don't say anything dumb, we don't even know who that is."

That... yeah. The whole "Hi, I'm an alien who knows all about you and I'm not telling you about me" thing still deeply unsettled her, to be perfectly honest—she didn't even know if this mysterious UU person was actually an alien or someone else just pretending, trying to get under her skin. "Trust me," she told Dave, "I will use all the caution in the world. All of it. I guess you should try to be more careful holding your food, Davey, because I'm using _all _the caution. I just took yours."

"Real fucking funny," he snorted, giving her a quick roll of the eyes. "If I weren't so damn hungry, I'd respond in kind, metaphor to metaphor, but I'm too busy stuffing my face."

"Oh, I know," she teased, using humor once again to mask the underlying insecurity and worry that roiled in her stomach.

TG: hey  
TG: i dont know who u are but i have questions and u have answers  
TG: and ur going to tell me stuff k

There was a long pause. Roxy began to doubt this idea, for many reasons—not least of which was that maybe UU just wasn't online except when they needed to contact her, or whatever. Which wasn't exactly encouraging either.

UU: i'm sorry?  
UU: i don't believe we have spoken before.  
UU: yoU probably have the wrong person!

What.

TG: no im pretty sure weve fucking spoken before dont give me this coy bullshit  
TG: or are you going to hide behind ~causal spoilers~ and time travel again  
TG: bc i dont have patience for this  
TG: theres shit i need to do and i need answers

UU: caUsal spoilers?  
UU: oh!  
UU: i Understand now!  
UU: i haven't spoken to yoU so far from _my _perspective, but from yoUrs we have conversed before.  
UU: goodness me...  
UU: i mUst have made a terrible first impression.

TG: yeah you could say that  
TG: first question now  
TG: who the fuck are you

Dave let out a chuckle. "Gettin' straight into things, huh," he said, reading over her shoulder curiously. "I wonder what time travel has to do with this. If they're for real. Which I'm still not convinced about."

"Me neither," Roxy said. "I'm just so sick of being uncertain and waiting like this! I want to know!"

"Hey," he shrugged, "I totally get that. I don't blame you in the slightest."

UU: now that is a qUestion with a long answer...  
UU: and i cant tell yoU all of it withoUt first knowing if i can trust yoU!  
UU: bUt i can tell yoU this mUch:  
UU: yoU can call me callie. that is not my fUll name, bUt that name is a secret by the cUstoms of my people.  
UU: i am not hUman and i am not a troll. i cant tell yoU what i am, though.  
UU: i am one of two of my species in this entire Universe.  
UU: i have access to varioUs points along the timestream by Using certain forms of technology that are once again native to my people. this is how i talked to yoU in yoUr past!  
UU: i swear i am telling yoU the trUth on these things, as well, because i have a feeling yoU are wondering about the veracity of my statements.

"What the hell," Roxy muttered. "I don't really buy this."

"Is there even a way to verify it? I don't think so," Dave agreed, brow furrowed. Roxy tucked her hair behind her ears, a bit agitated, before typing her response.

TG: ok  
TG: i dont buy it but whatever  
TG: next question whats going on in the imperial city right now  
TG: what unrest  
TG: there hasnt been any in months

UU: ... excUse me, did that message get scrambled?  
UU: or did yoU jUst say that there has been no Unrest in the imperial city for months?  
UU: it's the rogUe! he has been leaving messages and exciting everyone!

TG: what

"The Rogue?" she whispered, looking at Dave in confusion. "That was _me_! Someone else took it up when I left!"

"I didn't think anyone else was that committed," he commented, now one eyebrow rising towards the ceiling. "Who else—"

"Oh my god," Roxy suddenly realized. "Jake."

"Jake," Dave repeated, his eyebrows shooting towards the ceiling. "Holy shit..."

"Jake's still in the City," she said, leaning back into the cushions with wide eyes. "Jake's still in the City. Jake is still in the City! Oh my god, he has to be okay. With all this going on, and we didn't even know—oh my god, he has to be okay. I can't—no, fuck this, I'm going to find out."

Roxy Lalonde hated not knowing things, after all.

"Wait—" Dave started, then stopped. "No, fuck that, go for it. If we get sold out, fine. I want to know just as bad as you do."

"Oh," she frowned, looking back at the screen. "I should end this first."

TG: the rogue  
TG: ok  
TG: bye

Then she closed the window. Dave snickered lightly, shaking his head.

"Real smooth," he said. "Those are some fucking rad conversational skills you've got there. Then again, I guess talking to lonely, weird-ass aliens has got to be in a category all it's own, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," she said, no heat in her voice. Her finger hovered over the icon with Jake's image and screen name, almost trembling—here he is, so close, yet so far, for so long—until Dave's hand found her shoulder, and she found the strength to start typing and be done with it.

TG: jake  
TG: jakey are you there  
TG: are you okay  
TG: oh my god i dont even know what to say

Roxy sat back and buried her face in her hands for a moment, letting out a deep breath and a shaky laugh. "Wow, okay, this is stressful."

Dave placed a hand on her shoulder in support. "Yeah. Think he'll be at home right now?"

"It's pretty late, especially because he's two hours ahead of us," she said, glancing at the clock in the corner of the screen. "He works a lot, but he'd better be home before dark! I'm more concerned with, like... maybe the power's out or something. That happens a lot in the lower districts, and he is really close to the dark districts too."

What she didn't say was her other concern—that maybe something had happened to him, or that maybe he didn't want to talk to her after such a long silence. He had probably assumed her dead! She wouldn't blame him for being angry, not at all, even though she knew her reasons for not contacting him were sound, and that doing so right now was probably a bad idea, given that she didn't have a private, encrypted channel like she used to, and these communications were monitored.

The tension was mounting the more she waited on the screen to change, so to distract herself she looked back up at the news screen.

_"__...new talks on the proposed treaty from last year between Skaia and the Dual Monarchy of Prospit-Derse have been entered. This treaty should strengthen the already close bond between our planet and its two moons, which gained their independence a few hundred years ago at the mercy of our benevolent Empress. Dersite officials are alleged to have mentioned that they want to help curb the violence and extreme prejudice against trolls on Skaia..."_

"Dunno why they keep trying," Dave scoffed. "Isn't it obvious she has 'em all killed herself?" He leaned his head back on the cushions, sprawling out as the picture of apparent indolence. Roxy rolled her eyes at him.

"Unofficially, everyone knows that. Officially, there's no evidence found—"

"Obviously!"

"—so they can't link her to it, even though it's borderline genocide. She's got her ugly claws in everything, so all that they have left is courtesy and diplomatic channels."

Before Dave replied, they were both distracted by a ding from Roxy's computer.

GT: Roxy?  
GT: Is that you or is this some kind of joke? it had better be you!

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod," Roxy fanned herself, bright-eyed and scarcely believing it.

TG: its me!  
TG: omg omg omg jake

GT: Youre... youre alive?

TG: yes i am  
TG: dave too! hes with me right now!  
TG: i wish i had talked to you sooner but this is going to be visible to everyone and thats dangerous but i dont even care!

GT: Wait wait wait youre with dave?  
GT: Oh my goodness roxy i have been so worried about you you dont even know!  
GT: I really thought you had died!

"He's okay," she told Dave, even though he could read quite well enough. "Oh my god, he's _okay_!" That excited voice wasn't enough—she leaned over and flung her arms around her "brother" with a squeal. "He's okay!"

TG: im so sorry i left you hanging like that :(  
TG: it just seemed safer for us to totally cut all ties and everything!  
TG: weve completely left everything behind and started over  
TG: but now i think we might come visit you!

GT: Is that why you never responded to any of my messages earlier?

TG: what messages?  
TG: oh...  
TG: i disabled my account and encryption network for a while right after we vanished  
TG: i dont think they came through! i never got them!

GT: Oh.  
GT: That does explain things, i suppose.

"Whoops," Dave commented. Roxy smacked him with a pillow.

TG: im sorry jakey

GT: Its fine!  
GT: Let bygones be bygones, im just terribly happy youre not dead!  
GT: Wait you said you might visit? when?

TG: uh... i havent really come up with that yet  
TG: why, is some date better than the others?

"Well, I know some weekends I can't travel," Dave said. "Got a job to keep up, you know." He seemed pensive, deep in thought as he stared at the wall near the holoscreen. She wondered what he was thinking.

"That's one nice thing about _my _job," she said with a little laugh. "I have a nice, predictable schedule!" Unlike some people and their 'hey I got a call about an hour ago I've gotta go play, bye' hectic running around. Cough cough, Dave Strider, cough.

Dave sighed long-sufferingly, though his slight grin belied his actual amusement. "You're never gonna let me live last week down, are you?" he asked, tossing his head to try to flick his bangs out of his eyes.

"No, not really," Roxy shook her head.

GT: Well not really, because dirk and jade dont have a set schedule, but if we could pick one i could tell them too!

"Holy shit," Dave said, rocketing forward to peer at the screen more closely as if he had a need to confirm what he'd just read. "Holy _shit_."

"My thoughts exactly," Roxy agreed, pretty sure her eyes were wider than dinner plates at this moment. Talking like this in the open without protective hiding mechanisms was a bad, bad, bad idea, but at this moment she couldn't have cared less! She might be able to see Dirk again! And Jade!

TG: holy SHIT  
TG: for real? :O  
TG: they come to visit and everything and omg omg omg okay lets do this

GT: Yes they come see me fairly often you know!  
GT: When should we do this?

TG: uhhhh... next weekend!

"That's good with you, right?" she asked belatedly, raising an eyebrow at Dave, who squinted in thought before shrugging and whipping out his communicator to check the calendar the device held. He flipped through it for a second and then nodded.

GT: Holy smokes thats soon!  
GT: Next weekend it is then roxy!  
GT: Golly i cannot wait to see you both.

TG: me neither jakey  
TG: me neither

* * *

[ALERT]

[Scanners detect suspicious activity in: 28 of 429547 logs originating from: Imperial City]

[decrypting...]

[information sent]

* * *

_AN: Yo, guys! :D I got some rest and stress relief and time to write over spring break (and a college acceptance letter! First one to come in! WHOOP WHOOP!) so I'm starting to catch up on D&amp;D, finally. I'm not promising that I'll get back on schedule, but I feel a good bit less swamped and overwhelmed by life, so I think there's a good chance of it hehe!_

_In other news, it's springtime and the days are getting longer again! Only a few weeks until school's out for the summer and I'm a free bird (hehe see that pun? because I'm Songbird? I'm so funny :P) and I can't wait! I hope you guys are having a good time too :)_

_Thanks for reading and reviewing! Reviewers are lovely people and your feedback really means a lot to me. I'm going to have to do something for you guys when this story is over!_


	48. Chapter 48: Jade - Looking Back

"Have they seriously not noticed us yet?" Dirk whispered, raising his eyebrows skeptically.

Jade shrugged, trying to keep her heart as light as she could given the circumstances—they were breaking into the Mages' College compound, intending to destroy a database of names of suspected mages to be hunted down. From what Dirk had mentioned once, she knew that once upon a time Jane Crocker's name had been in that registry.

Yeah, and that sure had ended well. Especially for poor Jake, right?

"They might've noticed us and just are pretending they haven't," she whispered back, her fingers tightening ever so slightly on the grip of her laser blaster—not to be used, if the plan went right, but it was way better safe than sorry. "Don't underestimate these guys, they're brutal."

Breaking into the Mages' College compound was a great idea, in theory at least. They would help a lot of mages who might normally be kidnapped and forced into service, but... this place was very similar to the Space And Time Academy prison and dungeons. Jade didn't exactly have the best memories of that place.

"Maybe," Dirk shrugged slightly. She got the feeling he didn't quite believe her, too sure they were fine. Ugh. She didn't like that feeling. "Or maybe they're actually really shitty at what they're supposed to do, because they're used to no opposition."

"I'm serious!" she insisted. "They do get plenty of opposition, and they're great at beating it down as horribly and cruelly as they can!" God, this was bringing back memories, memories she really, _really _didn't need right now.

He gave her a funny look over his shoulder. "Why are you making such a big deal over these idiots, anyway? You were fine at the other places like this."

Oh for goodness's sake. "We can talk about that later!" she hissed, defensive. Later, or never, actually. She would preferably just never bring it up—he knew the bare minimum of details on her past in terms of _that _period, just that she'd been through some stuff and time in prison, but not where or what for, really. And she was going to keep it that way. Explaining—that hurt too much. "Just be careful! Don't get caught, whatever you do."

"Yeah, fine," he said, still eying her with a thoughtful, almost suspicious look. "I'll be fine."

"No," Jade shook her head, almost frustrated with how this wasn't getting through his damn thick Strider skull—_damn _them both for sharing that trait! "You have to promise me. Promise me you won't get captured!"

"I won't!" he hissed, narrowing his eyes defensively himself. That was a touchy subject for him, too, to be sure; he hated to think about his time in captivity with Jane. Good; maybe it'd keep him from being dumb here. They had to remember not to let this all go to their heads! It sort of had been recently, and that had been driven home with a jarring realization when they appeared here and she felt shivers run down her spine.

"Good," she said, relieved for a reason she couldn't articulate if anyone asked her to, and squeezed his hand. "Good."

He softened slightly and squeezed back. "You worry too much." And there it was, a small half-smile that made some of the fears melt away. "It'll be fine. Now, c'mon, let's get this done."

Jade closed her eyes for a heartbeat, taking a deep breath in and out. "Okay. Yeah. Let's do this." Feeling herself shifting away from the tears and fears that had plagued her ever since her own, uh, experience, if she wanted to call it that, she let go of Dirk's hand and reached for the inner fire of her magic, roaring and blazing as strong as ever. It was almost comforting, ironically, that she had it now, even though it had only come about because of this awful place's alternate universe twin.

But now she was using it against them, to tear it down brick by cursed brick, if that was the last thing she did. _Focus_, she told herself. _You can do this. They can't contain you._

_But what if they can? _whispered a little part of her, the part still afraid and scarred that never really recovered. She quashed it and shoved that as deep in herself as she could.

"You know where you need to be?" she whispered to Dirk, peeking around the corner again. The guard still didn't seem to have noticed them, but they would probably appear on the scanners—she was good, but hiding all infrared radiation from two bodies was hard, and they were on the lookout for magical disturbances. Even a little mistake would reveal something was up. She wasn't counting on staying hidden long—they had to strike hard and fast, and then get out.

"Yeah," he said. "You're good playing distraction?"

Jade gave him a humorless smile. "Trust me," she said a bit cryptically, "I've mastered the art of running from them."

That was almost a lie. Every time she had run, she'd been dragged back and beaten and put back in the testing rooms. But that was then, and this was now. It wouldn't happen this time. It _wouldn't._

Dirk frowned, opening his mouth like he was about to say something, but she didn't stick around to hear it, ducking away and vanishing into the green void.

She reappeared with a muted green flash—carefully calculated to look as it would if a half-starved, weak mage was trying to hide it, which was totally _not _something she could do from memory, ha ha, no—in the corridors underground, uncomfortably close to the deep cells where they'd thrown her in the other prison. Dave and Rose and John had saved her that time, but if she got herself caught now, it'd be up to her to get out. There could be no getting cocky here! If she was knocked out, even by a stray blow, she wouldn't be able to use her powers, and they could easily work the spells needed to hook into her like they did that time when she fainted. She had to be careful. They _couldn't _get their hands on her, both for her own sake and everyone else's.

Within seconds, tramping boots were heard, rapid footsteps from both ends of the corridor. Her memories of this place were fuzzy at best—she'd mostly seen it while barely conscious, being dragged back to a cell after a long day of pain—but she did remember on the day she'd gone home, Dave had come through the passage on the right, which led to the nearest stairwell—no transportalizers allowed near mages, especially Space ones. With a look of what might be called terror, one that didn't need to be faked, she bolted for it, her eyes wild and her breath short.

"You there! Prisoner!" a voice barked. Jade ran faster. No, no, no, this had been a bad idea, a bad idea! This was too close to memories she thought she'd buried, this was too much, she was sinking and falling—

"Stop and return to your cell!"

_Like hell I will_, she hissed in her thoughts, saving all breath to keep running. They didn't _have _a Jade Harley in existence in this universe—she wasn't registered and she wasn't in the prisoner database. Getting caught wasn't an option. If they found out that she could rip universes open, well... she didn't want to think about that!

Skidding around a corner, she kept running, feet pelting the dirty stone floor and her heart pounding in her throat. There were more soldiers in front of her, she was going to have to jump past them but not too far—she was still keeping up the semblance of a near-broken, imprisoned girl with a near-broken spirit to match.

But then again, acting wasn't really that hard when she was just pretending to be herself.

Dirk had better hurry up and get his end going! She couldn't run forever!

A crackling bolt of energy whizzed passed her, close enough that she could feel its singeing heat on her arm. Jade gasped, whipping her head around to look over her shoulder, and saw one of the soldiers raising his gun again, the rest of them steadily gaining on her. The ones in front of her were also getting way too close.

So she drew on her magic again, making what looked like a wimpy, pathetic teleportation hop just to the end of the corridor. Just a second was spent pretending to stumble, weak, because they couldn't ever know that she was strong like she was, because then they would make every attempt possible to bring her into custody and she _couldn't _do that again!

Another shot nearly got her, just barely missing as she felt it coming and darted to the side. She was starting to tire a little bit, her chest burning and her eyes brimming with tears of fright and desperation that were all too real, this was too real, it didn't feel like she was pretending anymore!

And then the most blessed of things happened: the main alarm klaxons started blaring, a loud magical noise that seemed to drill painfully straight through the skull of anyone not a guard. Jade had only heard it happen once before, when John and Dave attacked to save her, but she'd been barely conscious that time—Dave had pretty much carried her all the way out, and John had flown all three of them back to where Rose was waiting at camp, exhausted from trance after trance to find her. Now, the sudden loud shrilling made her cry out, falling to her knees, but it also startled the soldiers, and she got her feet back under her quickly enough.

Dirk had done it—he'd snuck past the guards, drawn from their posts by her distraction, and destroyed the mage information banks. It was time to go.

She dropped the pretense before the guards could catch her and warped to the rendezvous point, a little shadowed storage room right near the information headquarters, where Dirk was waiting.

"Hey," she said as soon as she appeared, and there he was, silently hidden behind the door. "Let's get out of here!"

"Agreed." He placed his hand in hers, and they both vanished into green.

* * *

An analyst hunched over her computers, almost boredly flicking through archived conversations flagged for important keywords. Most of them by nature were unimportant, just coincidental, but the Empress preferred nonrobotic eyes doing the final glance-over, and so this analyst had her job.

Nearly done, she sighed with relief as she opened the second-to-last conversation log in this folder. Soon she would be able to collect her paycheck and go home to make dinner for her family and get some rest from this thankless workplace.

GT: Well not really, because dirk and jade dont have a set schedule, but if we could pick one i could tell them too!

TG: holy SHIT  
TG: for real? :O  
TG: they come to visit and everything and omg omg omg okay lets do this

GT: Yes they come see me fairly often you know!  
GT: When should we do this?

TG: uhhhh... next weekend!

"Dirk"? That was a name of a person on the watch list. Sure, there was no last name Strider attached to it, but this at least probably bore further investigation, just to be sure. Who was this Jade? And GT and TG, too, she needed to check on them first, see if they were suspicious characters. Hmm... what about the rest of this chatlog?

She scrolled down through it some more, eyes narrowed slightly. This was important work for the Empress, after all—it wouldn't do to fail or mess up, not if there might be a lead on one of the most notorious criminals out there.

GT: Haha yes i remember that! you were like "dirk strider sit your ass down and eat janes food!"

TG: loool yeah those were the days werent they  
TG: in hindsight i really dont know why i didnt just eat it myself!

Dirk Strider. So it _was _him. GT could be traced to a signal in the Imperial City, where their culprit Strider was from—he was related to the deceased troublemaker Dave Strider, who this analyst knew little more of than his name and that he was bad—so she was all but sure that it was him. TG was from Ensypi.

Was there anything about where Dirk Strider could be found? More information would be needed to convict these two as accomplices, but they could always be taken into custody. But the analyst figured the more she found, the better her odds of a promotion were.

A weekend visit to Ensypi, hmm...

Some more tracing work could be done. Satisfied with her handiwork, the analyst stood to deliver her report to her superiors.

* * *

When they got back to the island, Jade immediately let go of Dirk's hand and tore off her thin cloak, dumping it onto the grass, where it was followed by her outer tunic and shoes. Then without a word, she started to run until she got to the cliffs, taking a flying leap—perfect diving form, graceful and elegant—into the water.

"Jade!" she heard Dirk call, behind her, as the wind whistled past—_I miss John so much, _she thought wildly—and she fell toward the azure ocean. A slight splash and a moment of being isolated from everything, surrounded totally by water, later, she broke the surface and began kicking out to sea, knowing that as long as she stayed in the lagoon she would be in the shallows and not near any dangerous currents. She needed to get some total solitude, to clear her head. A swim was a good way to do that.

It was warm and sunny, and the sea was crystal clear and blue, stretching on into infinity beyond the lagoon and its shallow reef borders. The island behind her was lush and green, and the sunlight sparkled dazzlingly on the waves, warming her face as she turned it up to the sky, eyes closed. On a day as idyllic as this, she could almost pretend things were fine!

(Things were not fine.)

Maybe she could pretend John was still on the beach, reading something—she'd always been the stronger swimmer of the two of them, staying out longer and swimming further. He retired to build sand castles, and she was still splashing around gleefully, even though they hadn't lived on their island for years. Maybe she could pretend it was one of the few times she'd brought John and Rose and Dave all home for a few nights, and they were all back at shore, alive and well.

Maybe she could pretend the salty water on her face was just seawater and not tears.

There was a tiny sandbar over here, shallow enough that she could sit on it with her head above water even during high tide. It was low tide right now, and it was only covered by a few inches of water; Jade swam over and sat on the edge, pulled her knees to her chest, and let out a shaky breath.

Today had been... not the best. They'd done a great thing, sure! Lots of people would be safer now, because collecting that data on them took _years_. Most of the backups were stored at other locations, which they'd already gotten; this was the icing on the cake, the culmination of what they'd been working on as their latest project, for weeks now. She should have been happy!

... She should have, but she wasn't. She just couldn't feel it. She was too mired in terrible memories and thoughts she wanted to be rid of, thoughts that had been dragged back to the forefront of her mind after being buried deep. It used to be that she would turn to John and cling to him and cry the fear out, and he would make her feel safe—he was her brother, he _always _made her feel safe—but he wasn't here anymore. And she didn't know whether she could go on without Dirk asking questions.

He was already bound to be curious now, now that she'd taken off and fled as soon as they got home. He was already going to have questions, and she didn't want to give him answers.

After all, he already knew that she'd been captured by the Space and Time Academy, that they were the reason she had her power as much as she did, but... he didn't know the full extent of it. She had deliberately not said. Hell, she deliberately avoided thinking about it!

The water lapping at her feet and sides and back had a soothing sound and rhythm to it. Jade closed her eyes and told herself to breathe deep—fresh sea air in her lungs, warm sun on her face, soft breeze in her hair. She was free, it was okay.

Trailing her fingers through the water, she let out a long, languorous sigh. "I want my brother back," she told the wind, watching the fall of the droplets from her fingers in the sunlight. "And my best friends."

The wind didn't respond—John would have—and Jade was left to her thoughts again.

On the actual day of her rescue, Dave had been the one who scooped her off the floor where the guards dropped her and carried her out. She still remembered how he'd told her about it later, one of those nights when she'd had nightmares and woken him up—he was the lightest sleeper of them all.

"I was just... so fucking _mad_," he had said thoughtfully, stroking his fingers through her hair. "I was coming down that way and I saw them hit you, call you names, and you didn't even resist, and I just wanted to kill them all."

She hadn't said anything, just shifted wordlessly a bit closer, seeking shelter. He had chuckled softly and held her tighter. Rose had joined them, too, holding Jade's hand and rubbing her knuckles soothingly.

The three of them had sat together, not really saying anything at all, just being there. It had been nice. Now, she missed them so much it physically hurt, an ache in her chest.

Dave was alive, out there somewhere. That much gave her hope. He'd gotten out alive, broken leg and all—maybe that meant someone had saved him? She didn't know, and it might have been a future Dave, too. But he was okay. She needed to find him, needed him back desperately. Being with Dirk was nice, but he was a painful reminder of Dave sometimes. She _missed _him so much, god...

Rose was the only one who'd ever known, but Jade had fallen for her other best friend, a long time ago. She'd just never had the nerve to tell him. Now, she'd just be glad to see him again. But god she missed his arms around her, his little laugh or the smile he had when he thought no one was looking.

She sat out in the sea and sun for a good while longer, and then she stood on the sandbar and stretched before jumping back into the water and heading back to shore.

Dirk was waiting, making dinner over the campfire and typing away at his communicator. He looked up when she walked into camp, but she just waved and headed into the tent to change into some drier clothes. It was a Space-enhanced tent, taking up less space outside than it actually held, and she had her own small room with a lot of her things in here. Using a little water from their rain collector, she rinsed herself off quickly and then dried off, putting a casual sundress on before going back outside.

Dirk immediately waved her over, patting the ground next to him. "Jade! I've been waiting on you to get back," he said, excited. She blinked, but he wasn't asking questions and she was good with that, so she sat down and peered at the communicator, curious. "Jake had some great news."

"Oh?" she asked, making sure her voice didn't sound as empty and sad as she felt.

Normally, Dirk might have noticed, but he seemed rather distracted. "Yeah! Roxy's alive and she contacted him." He grinned brightly, and Jade felt some of her own gloom lift with the surprise and the joy that accompanied it.

"Really? Oh my gosh, that's wonderful!" she beamed, clasping her hands for a moment. "Where is she? Can we—"

"Hold up, that's not all!" he interrupted. "She's in Ensypi, but she isn't alone. Dave's with her."

Jade felt the world rock a little bit. "He is?"

"Yeah," Dirk said. "She's planning to go visit Jake with Dave, or to get Jake over to Enyspi. Not too clear on who's going where, but Jake figured that as soon as we—well, you—got involved, location and travel time wouldn't really be a problem, so we can meet them." He was palpably thrilled. Not for the first time, Jade wondered if the ghosts of his friends haunted him as much as hers did.

"Is dinner ready?" she asked by way of reply. "We should eat fast, if we're going to visit Jake tonight."

"Almost," he said. "There's a few minutes for you to sit here and dry off a bit more."

Dammit, if only she had stayed out a few minutes longer. She had a bad feeling he was going to start trying to make conversation and talk about stuff, about _stuff_, and she wasn't sure she was ready to face that yet. Now there would be a long silence, unless she could come up with some chipper way to get him talking about something else—

"Jade."

Never mind.

"Yeah?" she asked, playing it cool, as best as she could. Just gotta keep calm...

"What's wrong?" He was looking at her with the full force of his rather intense gaze, concern glimmering in his eyes in the reflection of the firelight. "Are you okay?" No, no, that was the _worst _question! Jade felt bad for lying, but on the other hand, she really, really didn't want to have to talk about it. She wanted to forget it forever.

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "It's not—it's nothing important."

Dirk frowned. "If it's upsetting you this much, I'd say it's important," he said. "What's wrong?"

Damn this boy and his persistence, the way he acted like Dave, the way he _looked _like Dave when he wasn't Dave! Damn him damn him damn—no! No, what was she thinking? She was angry at him for being worried about her? What kind of reasoning was that?

"It's _nothing_," she insisted, staring at the fire so she could pretend any tears in her eyes were from smoke. "I really, really don't want to talk about it."

He didn't seem satisfied, but she stood and moved closer to the fire, turning her back on him, and he didn't say anything more until it was time to eat.

* * *

"Jade! Dirk!" Jake greeted them with tight hugs, just like he always did, bouncing on his feet. Jade beamed at him, twirling him around the small room once with a whoop of laughter—maybe it was just Hope magic, but she always, always felt better around him. She should've thought of visiting him sooner, if she was feeling sad, but somehow the idea escaped her!

"It's good to see you," she smiled, kissing his cheek. "How are you?"

"Quite good, quite good!" Jake beamed. "I've missed you both terribly, but I have been talking to Roxy a good deal now, which is lovely, I must say. She and Dave are living together in Ensypi! They've been here this whole time, I'd wager, though she hasn't said that specifically—I suppose it's part of the whole remaining under the radar thing that Rox loves to do—and I have to say I'm so very glad you're here, because now we can all meet up!"

As he spoke, he hurried around the room, going to the kitchen for a second and coming back with a tray holding three cups of hot tea, steaming enticingly from their chipped mugs. Jade and Dirk accepted them gratefully, blowing on them, and Jade plopped herself down on the rug.

"This from the stash we got you last week?" Dirk asked, raising one eyebrow as he folded his lanky legs, gracefully sitting next to her. Jake nodded as he retrieved the third cup and sat down too, none of them taking the armchair. Jade laughed at that—how chivalrous of all of them!

"It's very good tea," Jake said, cheerfully. "My favorite, actually, but you brought me plenty enough that I have no qualms sharing, especially not with you both!"

"It is very good tea," Jade agreed, smiling as she inhaled the lovely scent of the steam. "I'm glad you like it!"

"Do you want some food, too?" he asked, but she shook her head. God but he looked so much like John it was uncanny and a little heartbreaking because neither John nor Rose was anywhere to be found, or Jane for that matter, but at this point Dave and Roxy were almost with her and she was happy about that, right?

"Nah," Dirk said. "We ate an early dinner before coming over." He gave Jade a look that she couldn't quite decipher, then; she took it to mean he hadn't totally forgotten about her strange behavior earlier. Oh well, Dave and Roxy would be sure to distract him!

"Ah," Jake said. "Well, I'm glad the good news has you both in good spirits, but I do want to advise a word of caution." He sighed, fidgeted for a moment, then looked back up at Dirk as Jade looked on, curious and a little worried. "One of the Batterwitch's broadcasts is saying that you are the Shaded Prince, Dirk," he finally said. Both Jade and Dirk stiffened.

"How does she know?" Jade asked, feeling her insides twist with fear all over again. "Did something happen?"

"I don't know," Jake said glumly before she could barrage him with questions. "I really don't know. All I know is what I saw on the news the other day, and it said that you were more than likely the Prince, a dangerous criminal, and any sightings or evidence of you should be reported to the Batterwitch."

There was a slight pause.

"Well," Dirk said. "That's just great."

"Still," Jake shook his head, trying to keep the optimistic approach as he always did. "I hardly think that's too terrible, right? You don't exactly spend too much time in towns and cities."

"That's true," Jade acknowledged, giving him a tiny smile before she sipped her still-hot tea. "I guess we'll just have to be more careful about the time we do spend in cities, when we aren't secure inside like we are here! Maybe we should bring you out to the island instead, next time."

"Next time, sure," Jake says, nodding, "but tomorrow we're all going to Ensypi, remember?"

"Dude, how could we forget?" Dirk lightly punched his shoulder, grinning. "I don't know how any of us are supposed to sleep tonight, frankly. I'm way too high strung for that, right now."

"I could easily," Jake snorted. "Some people have actual jobs, you know. We stay busy and get tired out!" That reminded Jade of what she'd been doing all day, though, and she scooted over to give Jake a side hug, laying her head on his shoulder. As usual, he felt like home and safety, just like Grandpa always used to. Without really thinking, she reached out and took Dirk's hand too, smiling at him.

"I won't," she said with a soft, rueful laugh, though her agreement was less because of excitement and more because she was afraid that after today, her nightmares would come back in full force. "Maybe we can just go over early! And then you can come too, tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow evening," Dirk pointed out. "Jake has work in the morning."

"Oh," Jade said, deflating a little. "Right." That was a bummer...

Jake ruffled her hair affectionately. "That may be true, but I don't see why you can't go ahead without me in the morning. It's not like you have anything else to do in the City, and you shouldn't really go wandering around here anyway! So long as you come get me as soon as I get out of work," he added, playful reproach in his voice.

Jade beamed and nodded. "Yes, yes! Okay, we can get up bright and early and go see them!" She was excited, so very excited, oh yes. She couldn't wait to see Roxy again, to see _Dave_ again! Oh, she was imagining it right now—they had the address from Roxy's chatlogs with Jake, she could warp herself and Dirk inside and surprise them when they got home, she could be waiting there and then they would walk in, and then it would be a split second before Dave was in her arms and she was in his, and everything would start to get closer to okay again.

Oh, she couldn't wait!

* * *

_AN: yo guys! :D look at me, it's not been a month since I last updated! ...But then again this week will be ridiculously busy, so I probably won't be able to update until at least the weekend, at the earliest. Oh well. Here's this chapter! Have some Jade feels._

_And guess what! This is the milestone chapter with which this story breaks 200k words! :D I'm so happy guys, when I first started writing I had no idea it'd get this far, and I'm really glad you all came along for the ride! Thank you for staying with me this far!_

_Also, huge thanks to LordPeanut for being my unofficial beta and letting me bounce ideas off of her at weird hours of the night! Or day. Or whenever really. _

_Thanks for reading, everyone! Please review too, reviews really do give me motivation to write. :)_


	49. Chapter 49: Reunion I

_[Location data sent.]_

_[Instructions incoming...]_

_Keep watch on perimeter of building for any matching descriptions given. Take no prisoners. Cause as little unrest as necessary. Get the job done and be gone, do not stick around._

_[Transmission terminated]_

* * *

"Jade."

Jade looked up. "Yeah?"

"You can't avoid the question forever," Dirk said. "What's wrong?"

She blew out a sigh that might have been frustration. "Nothing! I'm fine, Dirk!" That was a lie and they both knew it, but she didn't particularly feel like elaborating on the actual truth, considering that it involved her being kidnapped and tortured and experimented on, all that lovely stuff, and she _really didn't want to talk about that_.

"Yeah, and I'm the Empress," he said. "Nice to meet you, Fine. I'm sure you're all well and dandy and you'd never ever tell a single damn lie, huh?"

"Nope, never ever," she agreed, pasting on her best bright smile. "Well, Madame Empress, I have to say you don't look at all like I expected! Goodness me, you certainly are a lot less, uh... terrifying." Wait no, no, stupid stupid stupid! She shouldn't have let it slip that she was afraid of the Empress and what she could do, now he might—

"Excuse you, I think I look plenty terrifying," Dirk said, pretending to take offense. "Have you _seen _me blow shit up? I can blow shit up like nobody's business."

"Oh, yes, you can," Jade agreed quickly, glad for the change in topic. "You do have scary magic, I'll give you that!"

Dirk sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So you'll give me that, but not a fuckin' clue as to what's actually bothering you?"

Now he looked almost sad, and that more than anything tugged at her heartstrings just a little bit. Maybe he thought she just didn't trust him or something, when that wasn't it at all! It was just a story she didn't want to think about at all.

So Jade pushed herself to her feet from Jake's solitary armchair, taking a step so she could stand in front of him. "Dirk..."

"Look," he said, taking her hand and squeezing it softly. "If you don't want to talk about it right now, that's fine. But I'm gonna need you to at least admit that there's something up, okay? It's not good to just keep it under wraps."

"Oh," she raised an eyebrow, squeezing his hand back, "and I'm sure you aren't speaking from experience or being hypocritical right now, right?"

He pursed his lips for a second, then shook his head. "Stop trying to change the subject, Jade. We're talking about you and whatever it was that made you freak out and go swimming for three hours."

"It's—" _nothing important, nothing big_, she tried to say, but the words stuck in her throat. She couldn't say them because they were so, so wrong! "It's ... I don't know, I don't have the words for it," she finally settled for. "It's bad and I just—okay, fine. I can't talk about it right now because if I try, I will have some sort of meltdown and that would just be bad all around, okay?"

And now she'd gone and said it. There it was. Kind of. And already she felt a little bit sick or guilty because now he'd be worried and she really didn't want to worry him over this, especially when it was something so ... not unimportant, really, but something so particular to her that there wasn't much he could do about it.

He sighed again. "You can't talk about it right now?"

"That's what I said," she agreed, stroking her thumb over his knuckles. "Just—please don't worry about me, I'll be fine! It's a big deal but only to me, not really to anyone else, I don't want you to worry or be upset—"

He cut her off by pulling her into a hug, his arms wrapping securely around her. "Jade, if it's a big deal to you, it's a big deal to me. That's how this works."

Jade relaxed against him, letting out a deep sigh. She took a few moments to get her bearings again, listening to his heartbeat and memorizing the feel of his chin against her head, before she found the words to respond. "I—I know, or I should know, one of those two. I'm just trying to figure this out myself, too, and I don't really know what I'm doing, but—okay, Dirk. I'll be fine. I can tell you when I'm closer to fine. But for now can we drop it?"

He seemed about to protest that, so she quickly pressed on.

"We need to get to Ensypi soon, after all," she added. "They don't know it yet, but Dave and Roxy are waiting for us! Let's go!" Adding a little bit of puppy eyes learned from her old dog Bec, she looked up at him earnestly and waited. This always worked on Dave, at least...

...Come on, come on...

"Fine," he said. "Let's go, but I'm not letting you just get out of this, okay?"

"Yay!" she cheered, forcing what little upset nerves and terror from the previous day that lingered deep, deep down inside. That had to stay bottled up for now, she couldn't let it interfere with her reunion with Dave and Roxy! She couldn't wait—just an hour or less and they'd be together again!

Closing her eyes and keeping her arms around Dirk—it was easier to warp someone when in physical contact with them anyway—she imagined the coordinates she knew for their apartment in Ensypi and how it was laid out, how things were in relation to each other, and then leapt into the green continuum.

When they arrived, stumbling for a second until they got their feet under them, they found themselves in a standard style sitting room, furnished with a couch and a small table and a viewing screen, and some large windows. It was nice and airy and bright, set in a high-rise building tall enough that one could see the aerial highways right above. Jade was immediately drawn to a window, peering outside with breathless wonder.

"Look at this place," she marvelled. "How long has it been since we were in an actual city last time?"

"Good question," Dirk said sardonically, coming to join her. He craned his neck, looking upwards, and then down to the street far, far below. "A while, I think. At least, since we were in part of an actual city that looked and felt like a city, meaning that Jake's place doesn't count."

"It doesn't," Jade agreed with a little giggle. "Home doesn't count as sightseeing."

* * *

"Movement in location sighted," one member of the imperial assassination squad said into a communicator, peering from the roof into the apartment building below. "Waiting for confirmation that it is the target."

"Give it time enough to be accurate," Command instructed. "Do not botch this mission."

"Understood."

"If the target is confirmed, everyone with him is a conspirator and preferably should go as well," Command added. "There should be no one left to speak of this."

"Also understood."

* * *

When Roxy walked into her apartment, at first nothing seemed amiss. Then she smelled food and frowned. Dave wasn't home yet, so who was making popcorn...?

Holding her purse by the straps so she could swing it at someone if need be, she edged forward, trying to be as quiet as possible and only remembering a second later that she could turn herself invisible. Rounding the corner to the sitting room, she stopped dead, the purse falling forgotten from her hands as she flung herself forward with a cry. "Dirk!"

The lanky boy in front of her whirled around, and it was only when he looked confused and then yelped when she crashed into him that she realized she was still invisible. Quickly becoming visible again, she let out a laugh that was a little bit tearful but very, very happy, and hugged him tight—he hugged her back this time, now that he could see her.

"Hey, Rox," he murmured, pressing her close, and she sighed blissfully. It had been too long since she'd seen him—seen him alive and well, not just alive, at that—and she hadn't realized how much that had been weighing on her. Now it was like a huge burden had just been lifted from her shoulders and she felt so lighthearted she might just drift off the planet into space!

With a whoop, she grabbed his hands and spun them both around in a precarious dance around the coffee table, laughing as she did before flinging her arms around him again. He laughed with her and twirled her around, then crushed her in a tight hug.

"I'm so happy to see you again," he said in a low voice, full of emotion. "God, I've missed you, I didn't even think you were alive, I—"

"Shhh," she ordered, placing a finger gently to his lips. "None of that talk now! Let's go back to dancing around like idiots. I've missed you _so _much, Dirky, there's so much I have got to tell you!"

Just then, there was another voice, a head peeking around a corner. "Dirk? What's—oh! Roxy!"

It was Jade, bouncing over from the next room over with an exultant grin. Roxy crowed as she let go of Dirk for a second to embrace the other girl, sweeping her off her feet for a moment as they both laughed. "Hey, girlie! Wow, it's good to see you again," she said, studying them both for a moment. They both looked ... like they were doing okay, really. Dirk was more tan than she remembered—had he been spending a lot of time out in the sun?—and they seemed contented, at first glance at least.

There was a little tension in Jade's shoulders, something about the way she seemed to have a lot of nervous energy, and something about how Dirk kept glancing at her almost worriedly. What was up with these two...?

A thought occurred to her, but she quickly pushed it aside, for Dave's sake if nothing else. There was no way they were having some sort of lovers' spat, because they weren't lovers or anything, of course not! That couldn't be it.

Still, it couldn't hurt to ask. "What's up with you guys?" she inquired, keeping a hold on both of their hands. "Been up to anything these days?"

"Lots of things," Dirk said dryly. "Blowing shit up, running from the Batterwitch, good ol' life."

"So it _was _you!" she was surprised into saying. "We watched the news sometimes, me and Dave, and we always wondered if the people causing the censorship interruptions were you guys!"

"That's us," he nodded with a hint of pride, while Jade perked up.

"On that note, where's Dave?" she asked, looking around. Judging by the way her face lit up at the mention of his name, Roxy was pretty sure she could discard any notions of Dirk and Jade being a couple. Well, that was a relief!

"He's at work right now," she replied, giving Jade a little apologetic grin. "I can text him though, tell him to get his butt back home!"

Jade nodded vigorously. "Yes! Yes, please!" she said, clasping her hands together for a moment and bouncing on her feet. It was cute and Roxy couldn't really help but grin as she hugged her again, overcome with happiness that these two people were really, truly in her life again.

"Will do," she said, and went to get her communicator.

* * *

Dave finally messaged her that he was on his way home, and triumphantly Roxy showed the screen to Dirk and Jade, who both looked even more excited. Jade beamed, jumping to her feet and pacing, unable to contain her excitement. Dirk watched her with a fond smile for a second, and then he turned back to Roxy.

She smiled brightly and gave him another hug, squeezing him tightly as she laughed with giddy joy. No words were needed now—she'd already said them all, really, that she was happy and that she loved him and she was so, so glad he was here. He gave her the same smile she'd missed so much and then kissed the top of her head.

"It's good to see you," he said, his voice low and warm. "I know we've both said that a lot already, but it really is. God, I'm glad you're alright."

"And I'm glad you are," she said, releasing him so that she could hold his hands and look at him, drinking in his presence. It had been so long since she'd last seen him properly—the day of the final march, actually, now that she thought about it. It felt like it had been a lifetime since then. So much had happened...

Jade lightly tapped Roxy on the shoulder. "Do you mind if I go raid the kitchen?" she asked, her face still flushed with a happy glow. "I kind of want a snack or something."

"Sure, sure, go ahead!" Roxy nodded, gesturing in the general direction of the snacks. "Have at it—I think all we have is snack food anyway."

Jade rolled her eyes at that as she skipped away. "Why am I not surprised!"

Roxy laughed. "Beats me!" she called after the other girl, then turned back to Dirk, beaming. It was so, so good that he was here, super duper good! She didn't even remember last time she'd been this happy. Maybe when he and Jane had come back from that horrible place?

Just the thought of that was enough to make her want to shudder, though. Instead she leaned forward and hugged him again, probably the zillionth time in the last hour, but whatever! No one needed to be keeping count, and anyway there was no such thing as too many hugs.

The two of them sat together, just silently taking in the other's presence for a few long moments. Jade twirled back into the room, some chocolate in her hand, and resumed her pacing across the floor as they all made idle conversation for a few minutes, until the door softly chimed, letting them know someone was there.

Dirk looked up then, and Roxy twisted around to follow his gaze. Dave was home, turning around to close the door without looking into the living room yet, while Jade was standing there in the center of the room, her eyes wide and her hands both covering her mouth as if to smother a gasp. And then Dave stepped forward and stopped dead in his tracks, his expression filling with something between surprise and awe and maybe just a tiny hint of love.

Then Jade let out a squeal and tackled him, and that spellbinding moment was gone, filled with both of their laughter as he caught her, stumbling back slightly with the biggest grin Roxy had ever seen on him.

Dave buried his face in Jade's hair and said something Roxy didn't catch, but Jade responded by kissing his cheek and hugging him tighter. The two of them stayed like that for a long moment, and Roxy looked back up to Dirk, who had a funny little smile on his face as he looked on at his brother.

"Hey," she said, tapping her fingers along the back of his hand. "What's going on in that big brain of yours?"

He shrugged slightly, squeezed her hand. "Few things. Like, uh... that's my bro."

"Yeah," Roxy agreed. "It is. You're—you _are_ happy, right?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I am happy as fuck, just also a little ... god, I don't know the word. Overwhelmed, maybe? That might be a good one." He was smiling a slightly bemused smile, and she squeezed his hand in response.

Just as she opened her mouth to say "Good, it'll all be fine", a shadow fell across them and they both looked up. Dave and Jade were standing in front of the couch, looking down at them. Jade's arm was wrapped around Dave's waist, and his was slung about her shoulders, but he was looking at Dirk with an expression oddly reminiscent of the one Dirk was eying him with. For a long moment that stretched on and on, no one said anything.

"If anyone needed proof you two were related," Jade muttered, "we've got it right here!"

That broke the ice. Roxy laughed and gave her a high five.

Dave looked at Dirk. Dirk looked at Dave.

"Sup, bro," Dave finally said, reaching over to clap him on the shoulder. Dirk snorted with amusement and offered a fist-bump, while Roxy rolled her eyes.

"All that shit," Dirk said, "and the first thing you say is just sup?" He didn't seem annoyed, just like he was trying not to laugh. The big goof.

Dave quirked his lips in a grin. "The hell am I supposed to say? Yo?"

"Yes," Dirk nodded, poker face almost totally intact.

Roxy shoved him off the couch. "Oh, you doofuses, just hug already!"

Jade laughed and pushed Dave forward too, and both brothers did hug each other, a little bit awkwardly. But neither seemed to want to let go first, and Roxy found herself beaming all over again. She was so happy! This joy could not be contained, oh no. She jumped up and hugged Jade, lifting the smaller girl off the ground and twirling her about as she let out a whoop and Jade hooted with laughter.

When they all settled down again, Dave got some cushions for himself and Jade to sit on the floor, which ended up being partly pointless because as soon as he was seated, Jade settled herself right next to him, her head on his shoulder and her arm around him again. Dave looked down at her with a look of fond exasperation.

"Man," he shook his head as he held her, "and I carried extra cushions over here for you too! I shoulda remembered how clingy you are, Harls."

"As if you aren't," she teased right back, raising her head to look him in the eye. He shrugged and then kissed her cheek, and she giggled. Roxy caught his gaze and wiggled her eyebrows, grinning victoriously when he narrowed his eyes and turned a little pink.

Dirk noticed that interaction, raising his eyebrows at her, and she leaned over to whisper "Someone's in lo-ove!" to him. If it were possible, his eyebrows rose higher, but she just grinned like the cat with the cream.

"How've you been?" Dave asked the rather-oblivious-to-that-interaction Jade, pointedly ignoring Roxy.

"Oh, you know," she said airily, "pretty good! We've been doing what we can to sort of sabotage the system, traveling, chilling back at my island, too! It's great, sometimes we hike or go swimming—"

"Speaking of swimming," Dirk interrupted her, "and of you being 'pretty good', you—"

"I'm _fine_!" Jade insisted, hunching her shoulders almost defensively. The way she said it made Roxy think this was an argument they'd had before, or maybe one they had been trying to have (Dirk sounded like this wasn't the first time he'd tried to start this conversation, while Jade sounded like this wasn't the first time she'd evaded it).

"What's this?" Dave asked, frowning slightly.

"It's nothing important," Jade said quickly. All three of them gave her skeptical, unimpressed looks.

"Honey," Roxy told her, "I don't need years of poly sci school to see that that was a fake-ass lie."

Jade shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it right now," she said. "_Please_." She sounded so desperate all of a sudden—where had that come from? She'd been ecstatic until Dirk had mentioned what he did.

That set off some sort of alarm bell in Dave's head, apparently, because he looked at her sharply, tilted her face up until she wasn't staring at the floor anymore but instead looking straight at him. "Jade," he said softly, "you almost never sound like that unless you're talking about _that_ stuff."

"I _know_," she whispered back. "That's why I don't want to talk about it now, I'm trying to be _happy _now, not—" she cut herself off, and Roxy exchanged looks of concern with Dirk, who shrugged, as clueless as she was. What was going on here?

Dave seemed to have some idea, though, rubbing her back soothingly. "Fine, not now, but you've gotta tell me sometime today, is that fair?"

"Dirk can tell you," Jade murmured quietly, sounding almost defeated as she lay her head back against Dave's shoulder. "He was there."

"I was?" Dirk asked. "Sorry, but I don't really get what I saw, Jade. We got back and you jumped off a cliff, then we ate dinner and went to see Jake, and then came here. It isn't like you haven't been avoiding the subject."

"Tell them where we got back _from_, and what we were doing there," Jade requested, not meeting anyone's gaze. Roxy frowned slightly again, turning to Dirk with a bewildered expression. Goddammit people, could they stop leaving her out of the loop please!

He shrugged again. "We went to go do our whole sabotage thing at the Mages' College, and as usual I went and destroyed their shit and you were downstairs near the cells, acting as bait to draw them off while—"

"She _what?_" Dave cut in, incredulous, before he looked back down at Jade, who continued staring at the patterns in the rug. "And you—okay, one minute, sorry bro and Rox. We need to talk about something." Then he stood, pulling her to her feet, and started to lead her to the hallway to his room.

"But—" Jade protested, looking back at Dirk and Roxy. "Dave, hold on! We were all sitting together, we shouldn't just leave!"

"Actually nope, I think this is an important conversation," Dave turned to look at her, standing in the doorway. "Unless you'd rather have it right here. But we're talking about this right now." He crossed his arms, ultimatum given.

"I—but—no," she tried to formulate a coherent argument, but when it became clear that that wouldn't work, she heaved a sigh. "Fine..."

"That's what I thought," he said, softening and taking her hand again. "C'mon, Jade."

Once they left the room, Roxy quirked her eyebrows and turned back to Dirk. "What was that about?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "She's said once that she was captured by the Batterwitch in her old universe, and that that upset her sometimes, but that's all I know. I don't think it has anything to do with this, but maybe it does? I'm really not sure—honestly, Rox? Jade's great and all, but she's so bad at talking about her own issues and so good at disguising anything that bothers her under some mask or other, that half the time I don't even realize something's wrong until it's been a few days or something. I wish she would just open up and admit she's not okay something."

Hmm. Roxy picked his hand up from where it was resting on her knee, lacing her fingers with his and stroking the base of his thumb with hers. "Well gee," she said lightly, "that sure doesn't sound like anyone I know."

He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, letting go of her hand to drape his arm about her shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. But I'm honestly fine right now."

She laughed. "Good, good. But remember what you just said! You'd better tell me whenever you're not fine, got it?" In the past she'd gotten him to say that he'd try to open up more, but now that he'd seen how infuriated and helpless it made him feel when Jade shut him out, hopefully he'd realize that that was the same feeling it gave her when he shut her out.

Dirk smiled ruefully. "Yeah, got it." He rubbed the back of his head a little self-consciously, and Roxy giggled and hugged him again—god he was adorable sometimes. Then she sat back, folding one leg under herself so she could face him.

"So," she said, "what've you been up to? We have a _lot _of catching up to do."

"Shit, we really do," he muttered, then brightened. "Well, I do have a lot of rad stories to tell you..."

* * *

Later, a good while later, after lots of stories had been swapped and Roxy felt like she could walk on clouds because she was just so lighthearted, Jake messaged her to say he was ready to be picked up now, if they were ready for him to come over. After sending him a quick "lemme get jade", she hopped up from the couch, Dirk trailing behind her as she went to knock on the closed door to Dave's room.

"Come in," he called from inside, so she opened it and entered. Both Dave and Jade were reclining on the bed, comfortably lying against each other. Jade looked more relaxed and at home again, not fretful like she had right before Dave hauled her off; Roxy was relieved to see her smiling again.

"Heyyy," she said, leaning in the doorway. "How're you doing?"

"Pretty good," Dave said with an easy smile, his gaze dropping back to Jade as he rubbed her shoulder, and she smiled too. "We had a nice, long talk."

Jade nodded, shifting to look over her shoulder at Roxy. "We did," she said, giving her a bright smile and nudging Dave affectionately. Roxy had to try really hard not to gush about how darn _cute _the two of them were, did they really not see how they looked at each other? Sheesh. "And I'm okay, I promise!"

Dirk shifted behind Roxy, squeezing into the doorway too. "I'm glad to hear you say that," he told Jade. "You had me worried there, for a while."

The other girl looked a bit bashful. "Sorry! I didn't mean to," she apologized, "I just really didn't want to have to explain, and Dave already knew, and..."

Dirk shrugged and nodded, giving Jade a half-smile as he relaxed slightly. "Yeah, that makes sense. Just so long as you're alright."

God, Roxy thought. Why were all her friends so adorable and sweet to each other? It was nice seeing Dirk and Jade both this close. It was like they were all a big family!

Speaking of family... "Oh yeah!" she suddenly remembered why she'd come in here in the first place. "Jade, if you're feeling up to it, Jake wants to come over too."

"Oh!" the other girl sat up quickly. "Um, yeah, of course! I'll go get him, is he ready now?" She looked back down at Dave and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before she stood in a fluid motion, smoothing her dress as she did.

"Yeah," Roxy said, holding up the communicator. "Thanks, Jade!"

Jade replied with a quick smile and then vanished in a flash of green. Dave looked at the spot where she'd vanished for a long moment, and then at the now empty pillow next to him. Roxy could guess he was wondering those irrational wonders, like would she come back, had she just slipped through his fingers again...

To distract him, she clapped her hands. "Boys!" she said. "Let's go sit out on the balcony while we wait. It's lovely outside today!"

Without waiting on either of them but knowing that they'd follow her anyway, she breezed back to the main sitting room and walked to the glass doors leading outside, flinging them open and taking a deep breath as the soft wind started to blow through the house—

Something slammed into her side, knocking her over as she heard Dirk yell behind her and red-hot pain exploded in her shoulder as she fell to the floor with a scream. Looking up she saw that Dave had pushed her down, and there was—there was blood coming in copious quantities from her shoulder and it hurt to move at all, ow, ow ow ow fuck!

"Go back!" Dave yelled, and she turned her head to see that there was another Dave standing there, presumably the one she'd walked out with. He vanished in a red flare and she was left with one Dave and Dirk, who both immediately grabbed her and hauled her away from the door even as the pane next to her was shattered by another shot. What was going on—ow ow ow!

There was a door slammed shut and then they were all in the storage room near the kitchen. It was cramped and her _shoulder_ oh god it hurt there was blood everywhere this hurt so much—

"Roxy!" It was Dirk's voice. He was kneeling down, holding her in his arms as Dave frantically rummaged through the stuff on the shelves, eventually producing the bag of clean towels.

"Here," he said urgently. "Keep pressure on it, don't let her bleed out—"

"I know!" Dirk replied tersely. "Sorry, Rox, this is going to hurt," he said as he took one of them, sliding his other hand under her back for support. The towel touched her shoulder and she let out a high-pitched whine of pain, and then he started _pressing _on it and she almost screamed.

Shitshitshit, shit, fuck, ow, oh god, waves of white-hot agony rolled through her body and she thought maybe she blacked out for a second, but when she came back to herself at least kind of, Dave was shaking his head and biting his lip, looking at the flimsy door.

"It won't hold long if they try to force it," he said. "Shit, Jade's going to bring Jake into that, and they're still out there, whoever they are anyway."

"Batterwitch fuckers," Dirk spat. "They're probably after me and Jade. I don't know how they got here, how they hurt Roxy—"

"Bro." Dave touched Dirk's shoulder. "Assign self-blame later. Worry about getting out of here alive now."

There were several more gunshots from outside the room suddenly, and cries of surprise from two voices—Jake and Jade. Dave swore under his breath and yanked open the door. "Jade!" he yelled. "Over here!"

A green flash momentarily blinded Roxy; when she blinked away the spots she saw Jade and Jake standing there amid the chaos. Jake immediately cried out and dropped to his knees next to her, while Dave moved to Jade, holding her shoulders and giving her a quick glance as if he was checking to make sure she was unharmed.

"I'm fine," she said quietly, touching his arm, before she addressed everyone more loudly. "We can't stay here! Everyone hold on to each other," and then—

Well, if Roxy had thought she was blinded earlier, she had been wrong. This was the most vibrant green she'd ever seen, like a sun all around her, and then suddenly the sky was bright blue and the real sun was dazzlingly bright in the sky.

"We're safe here, I think," Jade said, though Roxy was barely listening. They were near a beach and it was _gorgeous_, but she couldn't pay much attention thanks to the haze of pain radiating from her shoulder. "Is Roxy okay?"

Jake was already on it, tearing strips from one of the towels. "I'll take care of her, don't worry," he said. "Nothing vital was hit, she'll just hurt for a while. But I can patch her up in a jiffy!"

"There's more upper-district stuff in the tent," Dirk said, hopping to his feet. "I'll go get them, just a minute."

"Wait," Roxy murmured, a realization just hitting her kind of like the bullet had. "Wait... we left the apartment."

"Yeah, we did," Dirk agreed, squeezing her hand. "Are you seeing things? Did you lose too much blood or something? Are you—"

"My computer's still there..."

Everyone groaned. Dirk shook his head and headed back to the tent, muttering something under his breath that Roxy didn't catch.

"Priorities, Roxy," Dave muttered. "You're bleeding all over the place, and you're worried about the computer?" He shook his head incredulously, but Jade let out a soft laugh, maybe from relief more than anything.

She nudged Dave's arm. "Oh, come on! I seem to remember—"

"No," he interrupted. "We aren't going there. I don't even know which story you were going for, and we are not going there." But then he slung an arm around her shoulders affectionately, and she laughed again, wrapping her arms around his waist for a moment.

"What do we do now?" Jake asked, looking up from Roxy. Oh, that was a good question, she hadn't even thought of that yet...

"We'll figure something out," Jade said with obstinate cheer. And that was that.

* * *

_AN: Oh my god I got you guys so good. April Fools 2k15 will live on forever in my terrible authorial heart hahahaha! This was hilarious xD_

_DaveJade reunion! DaveJade cuties! DaveJade! :D_

_Ahem. Anyway. That's a thing that happened. Hehehehe. I'm happy with those two, but I'm going to keep romance as a background thing, not so much to the forefront as friendships and plot - it's not the main focus of this fic, so don't worry there!_

_Hahaha alright then, thanks for reading guys :P and thanks for reviewing! Hahaha... don't mind me over here cackling for the next few days!_


	50. Chapter 50: Jane - Light and Life

_Rose has seemed rather troubled of late_, Jane mused over dinner.

Oh, it was probably still the same things bothering her—the visions and the dark things that she sometimes spoke about, always frightened and hesitant and quiet. Jane didn't like the sound of those dark things; anything that frightened Rose, one of the toughest people she knew, was definitely something she wanted to avoid if at all possible.

Stirring the savory stew in her bowl, she blew on a spoonful and continued looking at her two friends. There wasn't really much conversation going on right now, though; Rose was tired, it was obvious, and John was watching her almost anxiously. Jane really wanted to ask what had happened in the "last time" that both of them kept alluding to but dancing around the subject of, but something told her that that was a bad idea, at least right now.

It made her feel a little bit excluded, to be honest, and she felt terribly guilty for feeling bad about herself when it was obviously Rose that needed the attention and care, but there it was and she did feel it. She _missed _her friends, feeling like she was part of a group and not just an outsider.

It wasn't like John and Rose _tried _to exclude her, no, of course not! It was just that... they'd both known each other so very long, and then Jane had just come in and been thrown together with them. They usually tried to make her feel included, part of the family, all of that. It was that those attempts sometimes weren't enough. Jane missed her old friends—she missed them a _lot_.

She missed Jake's loud laughter at even the silliest of jokes, Roxy's enthusiasm as she grabbed her hand and pulled her from place to place, Dirk's arms around her whenever she needed comfort—especially in the later days, too. She missed Jake's nonsensical turns of phrase and Dirk's acerbic wit and Roxy's sweet nature. She loved her friends dearly, and she missed them so much it was like a physical ache.

With a sigh, she swallowed another spoonful. It was nearly time for bed.

"Who's on first watch?" John asked.

"I'll take it," Jane offered. "You both get your rest!"

"Much obliged," Rose gave her a grateful smile as she pushed herself to her feet, gathering her bowl and spoon and John's. "I'll do the dishes if you set up the bedrolls, John," she said.

"Got it!" he replied, hopping up after her and heading to the tent. Jane stood too, stretching and rolling her shoulders before she headed to the perimeter of camp, taking a short walk around the tent and campfire. This was a nice place, still near the seashore but a bit uphill, so that if they went and looked over the cliffs, they could see the ocean crashing on the sand and rocks below. It was a lovely sight under the moonlight and the clear sky full of stars, to be sure.

As she walked back and forth, late into the night, she thought about her life and how she'd gotten to this point—maybe a cliché topic to think about, but it was weighing on her mind, so here she was wandering about under the moon and thinking. Rose thought that Jade might have been alive—at least one of their friends was—and that was lovely, but was it selfish of Jane to want one of _her _friends to be the one that lived? She wanted Jake or Roxy or Dirk!

She still thought about Dirk in the awful prison cells sometimes, thought about the days they'd spent huddled together for comfort and warmth as they waited each day not knowing the outcome of the next. It was strange how well she remembered those long hours, her hand in his or her head on his shoulder or his head in her lap, how vivid her dreams and nightmares of captivity still were. Would they ever really go away?

She was really beginning to doubt that, honestly, but maybe with time. But it was easier to be pessimistic and assume that this wouldn't get better, because then she'd either be right or she'd be pleasantly surprised. The nightmares would stay and so would the loneliness. She'd just have to learn to cope.

Eventually, her watch ended and she woke Rose, exhausted enough that she fell asleep when her head hit the pillow with only one second to ponder whether Rose would be okay at night again.

The next morning, she woke to find the sun already coming over the horizon. Rose was lying asleep next to her, her pale hair fanned out on the pillow like a silken starburst, and John as expected was nowhere to be seen—outside, no doubt, on watch or starting breakfast, maybe. She ought to help with that.

But on the other hand, she was quite comfortable here...

No, she told herself. Go on, get up! You kept this schedule before, silly!

With a sigh, she resolved to get out of the bedroll, staring at the side of the tent with her hand on the edge of the cover without pulling it off for just a few seconds longer—it was soft and comfortably warm against the cool morning air, though she knew it would get warm enough to be classified as "hot" later on, and soon at that. It seemed to be like that, near the seashore.

Finally, she slid out from under the covers, carefully pulling them back up and tucking them around Rose, who sighed softly and did not wake. Then she ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to somewhat neaten it before putting her glasses on and leaving the tent.

"Morning, Jane!" John called as soon as she exited, giving her a friendly wave. She called morning greetings back to him as she passed, getting some water to freshen up, and then came back towards the firepit, peering over his shoulder at the contents of the pot nestled among the flickering ruby embers.

"Mmm, stew for breakfast?" she asked, sitting down next to him.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "We had a bit of leftover everything, so I figured I would just throw it all together and whip something up so nothing got wasted!"

Jane peered into the pot again, squinting against the smoke. "Smells good," she said. "Do we have cinnamon? A pinch of that would make it smell even better!"

John pointed into the food bag next to him, then on second thought picked it up and passed it to her. "In there," he said. "We're out of ground cinnamon, there's only sticks, so I was gonna grind some, but if you would do that and add it while I finish cutting the ginger, that would be awesome."

"Of course!" she grabbed the bag, rummaged around until she found the spice pouches, and got out some cinnamon. Then she hopped to her feet and crossed the campsite to get the mortar and pestle from the other backpack, returning with both in hand to sit by John as she ground the cinnamon.

They both lapsed into a comfortable silence for a little while, listening to the soughing of the slightly distant sea and crackling flames and bubbling stew as John chopped ginger and Jane ground cinnamon. Finally, after one and a half small spoons of cinnamon were added and John dumped the ginger into the pot, Jane turned to him with a question.

"So," she said, "what are we doing today? Where are we going, rather, in general?"

John looked up, cocking his head to one side a bit thoughtfully. There was no doubt in his blue eyes though—he had the plan in his head, that much was certain. "Well, we aren't terribly far from another town," he said. "It's about two hour's walk north of here, and the weather's nice enough that I think we can actually go out today."

She laughed at that, thinking about how last time they'd made plans to go out, the clouds had opened and down had come the deluge. The road they'd been following—an old walkway, laid in with stones by the ancient Skaians but lying in ruins now—had turned to a slippery slope of mud as they slogged back to camp as fast as they could. Then they'd all changed into drier clothes and shivered in a soggy pile of soaked friends until the rain let up enough for them to try to start a fire and make something hot.

Then she sobered a bit. "John?"

"Yeah?" he quirked a grin at her.

"Where are we going? What are we _doing_?"

His smile faded a bit as he swept his hair aside from his forehead and regarded her. "What do you mean by that?"

She opened her mouth and closed it, her fingers gesturing in her lap for words she couldn't find. "I mean... we're just wandering. When do we go back? What are we _doing_? When do we start doing something again?"

John's face went from mildly bemused to gingerly awkward. "Ah. Um, Jane... I don't really know how to break this to you, but we're not going back to the Imperial City, if that's what you mean."

"We're—what? What do you mean, we're not going back? Ever?" Her world spun. "But—what about Jake! We can't just _leave _him, we can't do that! _I_ won't do that!"

John looked pained. "I know, it's stupid and it hurts," he said. "But... we can't go back right now, Jane."

"Why not?" she demanded. "We've been running around in the middle of nowhere for long enough! I miss my friends, I need to know what happened to them. I can't just—I can't accept that they're dead. I can't."

He winced; Jane noticed one of his hands flit up to touch a pendant around his neck—some kind of wire-wrapped green stone—before he swallowed and said, "It's hard. I know. I _know_. But—jeez, Rose could explain this way better than me, honestly—you're forgetting something. Jane, you're not just Jane Crocker the girl from the bakery! You're the Masked Maiden!"

_The Masked Maiden_. Now there was a name she hadn't heard in a long while. Biting her lip, Jane didn't respond, overwhelmed by memories she had tried to forget for a while—Dirk's hand in hers as she gave that speech at the first huge rally they held, Roxy's glee as she pulled Jane through the house to try on various masks, Jake's proud, broad smile every time she came down from the stage. The girl who died in her arms. The mages who spent their time hunting people down and not helping anyone in the Dark Districts.

The Masked Maiden. That was her, Jane Crocker.

"I am the Masked Maiden," she said quietly. "Doesn't that mean I'm supposed to go back and help everyone?"

John sighed. "No," he said. "Well, I mean, kind of, but no. It means that the Batterwitch wants your head and Lord English wants your hide, because you're a popular figure who has gone down as a martyr. After what you and Dirk pulled, it's not like anyone trusts what the Batterwitch spews from her media anymore."

"What does that have to do with me going to the Imperial City again?" she demanded, frustrated. "No one there knows that I'm the Maiden—"

"Lord English did," John reminded her. "And it's definitely likely they have agents trying to find you right now. It's also a possibility that the Batterwitch knows, too. Honestly, staying away from Jake might be the best way to keep him safe. He's the only one who wasn't associated with you guys from the start."

Jane bit her lip again. "Gosh darnit," she finally muttered. "Sometimes I really hate it when you make sense, John."

He laughed at that. "I think that's a trait that runs in the family," he teased. "Jade said that all the time." Then his smile faltered for an instant as his fingers brushed the pendant again, his gaze dropping before he looked up again, bright and chipper as ever. "Mind going to wake Rose? I think this'll be ready really soon."

"Of course," Jane smiled at him, rising again. Entering the tent she dropped to her knees and lightly shook the other girl's shoulder. "Rose? Wake up, breakfast is just about ready!"

"Mmm," Rose sighed, rolling onto her back and cracking her eyes open groggily. "Does 'just about' mean that I can have another five minutes?"

Jane laughed. "No!" she answered. "Time to get up! Rise and shine, the sun is up and the day is beautiful! Time to enjoy it!"

Rose groaned and buried her face in her pillow again. After a moment her muffled voice was heard again: "It's funny that a Light mage like myself could detest mornings so much."

"Did you sleep poorly again?" Jane frowned, pulling the covers aside. Rose let out a whine of protest and reached for them again, but Jane tugged them further back. "No, whether you get up or not isn't dependent on your answer to that question, you goofball!"

"I did," Rose sighed, sitting up finally. She yawned and shook her head before standing and stretching. "I haven't honestly slept very well since we've been running. It's the nightmares."

Jane fell into step beside her as they both walked back out into the early morning sunshine. "Why do you have them?" she asked curiously. "Is it another magic thing, or what?" Magic and the study thereof were still new to Jane, even though she herself was gifted with healing—Life, Rose and John called it. Until they'd come along, she hadn't even known there was a designation! TO her, it had always just been an extension of herself, not something with rules and guidelines. She'd just felt her way through for her entire life up to now.

"Another magic thing, yes," Rose nodded. "It has to do with being a seer more than it does with being a mage of Light, but yes."

"G'morning, Rose!" John greeted with a wave.

"Good morning, John," Rose waved back as she walked with Jane. "You see, all seers tap into what is essentially the same network of sorts. We access knowledge we all share, we just do it in different ways and see different aspects of that knowledge. For example, as a mage of Light I see information in terms of paths to take or fortune and luck, how outcomes appear. Sometimes I see visions of places I need to go or things I need to do. It's rather tricky and varies from seer to seer."

"I see," said Jane, who really couldn't resist the joke.

"Ah, yes," Rose replied drily. "I have never heard that one before."

Jane laughed. "But what causes the nightmares?" she asked after Rose washed her face and mouth, walking to the fireside.

Rose hesitated. "It's a little hard to explain without a lot of backstory," she finally said. "But basically, you could think of it like a wound or a corruption of my connection to the pool of shared knowledge and magic. There are dark spirits that dwell in that world, and they prey on the minds of vulnerable seers. They are what gives me nightmares."

Preying on the minds? That did not sound particularly pleasant, Jane thought. "How do we get them to go away?"

Rose shrugged helplessly. "I don't really know what I did last time this happened," she said unhappily. "Normally, I could scry for it, but in this case I really can't do that. I'm just as in the dark as the rest of you," she finished with a little laugh.

John looked over at her, passing two bowls down. Jane took one and passed Rose the other as John passed them both spoons, too. "We'll figure it out," he promised. "We did last time, remember?"

She stiffened. Jane wondered exactly what had transpired "last time". "I would... prefer if we don't do things the same way they happened then," Rose said cautiously. "I would much prefer that."

John sighed and said something that Jane didn't catch as she stared into the fire thoughtfully. A wound or corruption in her connection... a wound. A magical wound was still a wound, wasn't it?

She looked up suddenly. "I have an idea," she said, standing and placing her steaming bowl carefully on the ground. Both John and Rose stopped talking and looked up at her curiously. "It just might work. Maybe."

"An idea as to what, exactly?" Rose inquired, tilting her head to the side with an elegant yet natural grace that was entirely too much like Roxy for Jane's comfort.

"How to fix your nightmares," Jane replied as though that should have been obvious before she paused. "That... is what we were talking about, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, but... you mean you actually have a solution?" John looked wide-eyed and hopeful. "What is it?"

In answer, Jane walked over to stand in front of Rose, looking down at the seated girl. "This might not work," she warned, "but as far as I know, it can't _possibly _ hurt. So it's worth a shot!" Then she raised her hands and closed her eyes, focusing on her blue well of magic and channeling it through her fingertips, placed at Rose's temples.

Now that she was using her magic and focusing on this, she could feel the darkness around the edges of the other girl's Sight, if that was how it was supposed to be phrased—it was like there was a tall, glowing wall, keeping something nameless and terrible out, but there was a tear in it that the something was leaking through. But with her glowing magic, she could repair the wall. With a gentle nudge in the right direction, she guided her own power into healing the tear, until it was all gone. Then she withdrew and opened her eyes, looking down at Rose anxiously.

"Well? Did it work? Do you feel okay?"

Rose blinked once, twice, thrice. Then she slowly looked up at Jane. "You fixed me," she said, voice full of quiet awe, and she stood and hugged the other girl. "I can feel it now—the darkness is gone. Thank you, Jane."

Jane hugged her back. "No problem! I'm happy to help, you know."

John shook his head. "You're amazing, Jane. I'm glad you got stuck with us."

Jane laughed at that, sitting back down and picking up her bowl. "Well, shucks, I'm glad I got stuck with you too," she said. "Are we still all up for going to town after we eat?"

"Oh, absolutely," Rose said warmly. "I feel amazing! We must go out."

This was good, Jane thought as she blew on a spoonful of stew. This was good. Now if only her friends were here too—that would make it even better.

* * *

_AN: Whoops, life caught up with me and suddenly three weeks passed between my last update and now! I'm still not entirely sure where all that time went._

_Gosh, it's strange. This is chapter fifty. I have written fifty chapters of this fic! Wow. I never thought that would happen! :D_

_And Jane, John, and Rose continue to be cute. Is anyone surprised? I'm not._

_Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing! :)_


	51. Chapter 51: Jade - Respite

"And then we came home and he told me I wasn't allowed to speak of it ever again," Roxy laughed, rocking back to lean on her uninjured arm and throwing her head back. "Oh, man, that was great!"

Jade burst into laughter, clapping her hands and bouncing in place. "I can't believe Dirk actually did that—oh my gosh they are such dorks!" she giggled, then suddenly sat up. "Oh, oh! That reminds me of another story about Dave, have I ever told you about the pineapple incident?"

Roxy leaned forward in interest, stroking her chin with her good hand. "No," she said, intrigued. "You haven't! You've gotta keep going now, girlie, that already sounds like it'll be a great story. Man, it was a great idea to send the boys out!"

Jade giggled, then straightened her shoulders and nodded once, getting into proper storyteller mode. This was a story that deserved sharing; she _still _laughed when she thought about that day! "Well," she started, "the pineapple incident was—"

The tent flap moved aside to admit Dave, followed by Jake and Dirk. He immediately folded his legs to plop down by Jade and clap a hand over her mouth. "—a story you are never going to hear about," he finished for her. "Jeez, what a thing to walk in on after a long day of going around the island and gathering fruit and fishing and doing all this shit so we can have a good dinner. So this is what y'all do when we're out, swap terrible stories about us?"

"Correction, you mean _great_ stories," Roxy amended, grinning. Jade wormed her way out from his grasp and nodded, beaming.

"I'll tell you later," she added in a stage whisper to Roxy, who winked and grinned broadly.

"No, you won't," Dave grumped. Jade laughed and patted his shoulder in teasing sympathy. He eyed her suspiciously, then slung his arm around her shoulders. "I'm not gonna leave you two alone together again."

"Oh, come on!" Roxy laughed. "Would you deny the girl who got shot her simple entertainment? Especially when she doesn't even have her computer?"

Dirk groaned theatrically, smacking his forehead. "Again with the computer," he shook his head as he ruffled Roxy's hair affectionately. She ducked away, laughing, and tried to straighten it with one hand, but he intervened and tucked the mussed strands behind her ear for her. "Haven't I told you that you can just use mine if you're truly so desperate?"

"Well, yes," Roxy said mournfully, "but my _files_!"

"Ah, well, yeah," Dirk shrugged. "Can't help ya there."

"Maybe we could go and see if it's still there," Jade said thoughtfully, letting the pineapple incident be forgotten for the moment. Immediately, the arm casually draped around her shoulders stiffened, drew her in against Dave's chest.

"I don't like that idea," he said. "As much as I'd like to go get my turntables and shit, I feel like that place isn't safe anymore." Unspoken but clearly stated in the way he looked down at her, Jade could tell he was also saying _I want you to be safe_ or _I want to protect you_. Protecting her definitely was a thing Dave had a habit of always trying to do, no matter what—maybe it had started in their childhood games when he had stubbornly insisted he was the knight in shining armor even though she had never wanted to be a princess. As far as she could remember, at least, he had always tried to defend her from anything he could. It was one of his more endearing qualities.

"I want to go back to Ensypi," Roxy spoke up again, drawing Jade's attention from the boy next to her. She seemed more somber and subdued now, like there was a serious reason here, something more serious than even her computer. "There's—there's a few things I still haven't taken care of there. I need to do that before I can totally leave it behind."

"Like what, Roxy?" Jake wanted to know, curious, or maybe concerned.

"I need to say goodbye to Gaen and Irsa," she said quietly. "Even if I can't tell them why I'm leaving or where I'm going or anything, I just need to let them know I'm going and that I'm not dead. I—sheesh, I don't need to tell you guys what it is to worry that your friends are dead."

Silence fell for a few moments. Then Jade, tentative but sensing that she should at least try, piped up.

"I can take you back," she offered. "To a specific location and everything, too! That way we don't have to go straight to the apartment and stuff, if that's too dangerous."

"If you go, I'm coming," Dave said immediately. Jade turned to look up at him with a smile, then nestled her head on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she said, then looked at them all. "In fact, that's perfect! With me, Dave, and Roxy, we have Space, Time, and Void, right? We can go anywhere and anywhen we need to be, and we have the ability to hide! That really, really diminishes our chances of getting caught or having something go wrong."

"On the same token, if I may," Jake interjected, "if time travel can be used here easily enough, I'd rather that Roxy didn't go for the next few weeks. I don't like the idea of her gallivanting off with her shoulder still in this condition."

Roxy waved her good hand dismissively. "Oh, pish-tush, Jakey! I'll be fine, like, tomorrow."

All four of the others in the room leveled looks varying from skepticism to amusement in her direction.

"Is that so," Dirk drawled. "My, my, I can't wait to see your miraculous healing powers in action overnight, Roxy. When did you get them? I can't seem to recall you having healing powers before."

Another shorter, more awkward silence fell. Then Jake broke it with what everyone seemed to be thinking but what no one would say.

"Golly," he said, shaking his head, "it sure would be nice if Jane were here. For more reasons than one."

"Yeah," Roxy agreed. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes for a second and sighed. "I miss her. I really, really miss her." Then she opened her eyes again, looking around at the rest of them. "Do you think she's dead?"

"I know she isn't," Dave said.

Everyone stared at him. Finally, Jade voiced the question on their lips.

"How?"

He looked down at her and smiled that half-smile she knew and loved. "Well, all this talk got me thinking about time loops and shit," he said. "And it occurred to me that there's two I know of that I need to take care of. One of them is solo and doesn't really matter to you guys, but the other one..." he trailed off, tapped his fingers against Jade's arm. "Remember how you got your powers back, after you jumped and were sick for a while?"

Jade blinked. When she'd jumped to this universe... oh. Oh. Oh, oh, oh! "You mean—and that hasn't happened yet?" she asked breathlessly, her eyes wide and shining. Dave shook his head.

"Hasn't happened yet," he confirmed. "Which means—"

"Okay, okay, hold one just one darn minute," Jake interrupted. "Before you go on I would dearly like to know what you're talking about to begin with!"

"Oh, right, sorry," Jade laughed sheepishly. "Remember how when we first met, I'd just gotten here from our old universe? And I was all exhausted and drained and sick and stuff?"

Jake nodded once.

"Well," Jade said, "the reason I'm _not _like that anymore is that a future Dave brought a future Jane back and she healed me. But he just said he hasn't done that yet, which means... oh, shoot. Dave, how—"

"Don't worry, Harls," Dave chuckled. "I'll explain it. Basically, the me you're looking at has yet to take Jane back in time, which means that's further down my personal timeline. But _that _means that the current me has not met her but will again in the future. Which means, Jane's not dead."

"How do you know you didn't go back later and get a past Jane to bring her forward?" Jade noticed that Dirk had gone very, very still. Roxy slid her hand into his and squeezed it hard..

"She talked to me when she was healing me," Jade said. "And she spoke of the time I was in as her past, which meant to her she had come back." That was right, wasn't it? That was what that meant? God, time travel was so confusing.

Noting the question in her voice, Dave nodded. "Yeah," he said. "That's what that means. So there's a time loop later that confirms she can't be dead."

Jake, Roxy, and Dirk all exchanged looks, letting out deep, shaky breaths. Dave looked at Jade, who pressed her lips together and looked back at him.

Jake shook his head slowly. "Well," he exhaled, "I'll be. _Blimey_."

"We'll, uh, just give y'all a minute," Dave said, getting to his feet and pulling Jade outside the tent. She didn't resist, sliding her arm around his waist and walking out onto the beach. The other three had all been a lot closer to Jane than she or Dave had ever gotten—Jade had gotten used to life without her twice now. And she had known Nanna better than she had Jane. But those three? They probably needed a few minutes to digest that she was alive.

"So," she started as they stepped together into the sand.

"So what," he glanced down at her, softening a bit. Then the next thing she knew, he had gathered her into his arms again, resting his cheek against her hair as he sighed. "God," he muttered, "I am so glad you're not dead, you know that?"

She laughed as she lay her head against his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Ditto that! Right back at you, Strider."

He laughed as he let go, sliding his hand down her arm until he got to her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers as they started to walk along the beach. "But anyway. So what?"

"So, Jane's alive," she said, then worried at her lower lip. Dave lightly elbowed her.

"Stop that," he instructed. "You'll make you lips bleed again."

She laughed, squeezing his hand. "You know me too well." That had been a bad habit she'd had for... oh, how many years now? Almost all of them, especially those early winters. She hadn't been used to the cold; chapped lips had been a terrible problem for both her and John. Eventually it had become something of a nervous habit to her, which wasn't that great for the skin on her lips. Oops.

He grinned rakishly, eyes dancing. "Nah, I don't think so."

"Oh, of course not," she teased, drawing him towards the surf and kicking off her shoes at the spray line. He followed suit, rolling up the legs of his pants before the two of them started walking along the water's edge, barefoot as the waves rolled over their ankles.

"What's on your mind?" Dave asked after a few minutes of this, because it was obvious she was thinking about something—the distant look, the soft sigh, the sad smile. Any of those probably tipped him off.

Finally, she sighed and turned to him, taking his other hand and standing still in the surf.

"Jane is alive for sure," she said again. "I guess you don't know about... about John and Rose, do you?"

Just as she had thought he might if she brought it up, he looked downcast, almost guilty, not meeting her eyes but instead staring at the swirling water around their feet. "Jade. Don't you think that if I did, I'd've told you already?"

Jade let go of one of his hands to cup his cheek. "I know," she said. "I trust you, don't worry. But... I just had to ask anyway."

He looked at her for a long moment. She smiled at him softly as the two of them stood there, bathed in the golden beams of the late afternoon sun as waves flowed in and out. The light shone warmly in his hair and without really thinking, she reached up to smooth it away from his face, albeit kind of ineffectively because of the sea breeze. For a moment, she thought Dave was about to say something, but then he didn't. Instead he squeezed her hand again and turned to keep walking.

After a few moments, as Jade swung their joined hands back and forth and splashed in the surf, Dave looked at her again. "How're you doin' now?" he asked.

She blinked. "I'm fine—"

"No, I mean the nightmares and shit." He was frowning ever so slightly, and she started to wonder if she had woken him up with her tears last night. She'd thought she'd been quiet!

"Oh," she said. "Um... well, I guess there really is no point in trying to lie to you, is there?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "You know just as well as me that I'd see right through it, and then I'd have to tickle the answer out of you or something."

Oh! Nope, she wasn't particularly interested in that brand of interrogation, thanks. Although she'd faced worse things before. "Okay, then. I'm ... I don't know, Dave, I really don't know at this point," she sighed. "I keep _thinking _I'm okay for a while, but then the smallest thing reminds me of something and suddenly I'm there again. And the nightmares haven't really been great, either."

"I see," he said. Then he let go of her hand to slide his arm around her waist, drawing her against his side as they walked. "I'm gonna come sleep with you tonight, then."

Jade smiled gratefully at him, then because a smile didn't seem like enough, she leaned over and stood on her toes—though she sank a bit in the wet sand—to kiss his cheek. "Thanks," she said. "That might help."

"Hope so," he replied, smiling back at her with that little soft smile of his, the one she wanted to preserve in her memory forever. "You're gonna be okay."

"I know," Jade looked up at him with a smile again. "I have you again."

"Yeah," he agreed warmly. "You do."

* * *

When the two of them walked back to camp, hand in hand and laughing again like old friends always do after spending time together, they found Jake, Roxy, and Dirk still all smiles. The three of them were sitting outside the tent now, around the campfire, where the fish the boys had caught earlier was cooking under Jake's expertise (he didn't trust Roxy or Dirk with anything approxmating cooking, as he explained later).

"Ah!" the dark-haired boy exclaimed upon seeing them. "There you are. Just in time for dinner, of course! Did you follow your noses back here?"

"Something like that," Jade giggled. "It smells great! Do you need any help?"

Jake shook his head. "No, no, it's just about done. The fish just need to cook a minute or two more, then they'll be ready to eat!"

"Great," Dave said. "I'm starvin'. Keeping up with Jade while taking a long walk is hard, lemme tell you."

Jade grinned at him. "Or," she suggested sweetly, "you're hungry because you're a silly boy who forgot to eat lunch. Did you think of that?"

"No," Dave shook his head. "It's because I was trying so hard to keep up with your extremely fast gait on your extremely long legs."

Jade, who did not have anything even close to approximating "long" legs, swatted his arm playfully and laughed. "Oh, I'm sure!"

Soon thereafter the five of them settled down to eat, passing around bowls of fresh-picked fruit and plates of seasoned fish. Jade sat between Dave and Roxy, which was more or less across from Dirk and Jake, as they dined and watched the glorious sunset—seeing the orb of fire sinking into the western ocean was a sight Jade didn't think she would ever get tired of anytime soon. Even now after she'd become used to living on the island again, it still took her breath away.

"You know," Roxy commented, "it's funny that you boys walked in at just the worst possible moment earlier."

"How so?" Dirk inquired, raising an eyebrow at her. "Also, Jake, mind passing the mangoes?"

As Jake handed him the bowl, Roxy rolled her eyes. "Jade was about to tell me a great story about pineapples! I really want to know what you managed to do with a pineapple that's so embarassing you won't even let her finish, Dave."

"That," Dave said, "is for me to know, and for you to never, ever find out." He leveled a look at Jade, who swallowed her laughter to give him the most innocent, bright-eyed expression she could muster in response.

"It's really funny," she said, delicately spearing a piece of fish with her fork. "I'll tell you later, Rox."

"No, you won't," Dave shook his head. "C'mon, Jade, you're forgetting that as the resident time dude, I can sort of control when I walk into a conversation. Maybe it wasn't such a coincidence earlier. Who knows?"

"_You_ do," Roxy said drily. Dave grinned.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "I do."

Dirk grinned a sly grin, like that of a seemingly indolent cat about to pounce on its prey. "I don't know, bro, I've gotta say this is making me real curious. What the fuck did you do with a pineapple?"

Jade grinned wickedly. "Oh, he just—mmph!"

"I'm not letting go if you're gonna tell that story," Dave told her, shaking his head. Jade crossed her arms and frowned at him, even though he couldn't see that frown because her face was currently pressed against his shoulder.

But he let her go when she tried to pull away anyway. She rolled her eyes at him, laughing, and then returned to her meal.

"Man," Roxy said, looking at Dirk and Jake. "Who'd have thought that in another life, your bro and your grandma would be cuddle buddies? Not me, that's for sure."

"Same douchebag who thought that my aunt and Jade's grandpa would be best friends?" Dave suggested wryly. Roxy laughed.

"Okay, point taken," she said. "You've gotta admit, though, it still is a little strange, this whole magic and family and more magic thing. Like, at the risk of sounding rude, you both are just _weird._"

"Oh, he is," Jade agreed. Dave rolled his eyes.

"Says the girl who wanted to build a robotic snowman that would be invincible in snowball fights," he said.

"Hey, that sounds fun!" Roxy shrugged. "But I meant that more in the magical stuff way. Like... you can teleport and jump from universe to universe and all sorts of stuff! And _you _can time travel! It just seems so... way out there, you know? It makes me and Janey look normal! At least daughtermom and Johnny were like, visions and windy stuff. But you guys? It just blows my mind!"

Jade exchanged slightly bemused glances with Dave, then shrugged slightly. "Time and Space _are _the two fundamental aspects," she said. "But that's a bunch of magic theory mumbo jumbo stuff. Rose could have told you all about it. She loved digging into that stuff! I remember that time she was busying herself analyzing the group, because there's me and Dave, and then Light and Breath for John and her—"

"Wait!" Jake interrupted, his eyes wide. He stared at her and Dave for a long minute, then looked at Roxy, and back at the two of them. Jade fidgeted a bit, unsure what had just dawned on him to get him to scrutinize them like that. "It's _you _four!"

"What," Dirk summarized what the rest of them were feeling quite succinctly. "More explanation required, dude."

Jake shook his head excitedly. "Don't you see it?" he asked, bouncing in place with enthusiasm. "Space, Time, Breath, Light! The thing about a cleansing wind throughout all eras and places to usher in the light of a new era! It was never us, it was _them_!"

Roxy's jaw dropped. "Holy fucking shit on a brick," she said.

Dirk's eyebrows rose so high they could have disappeared into his hair and no one would have been the wiser. "I... huh. You raise a valid point there," he shook his head slowly, as if taking something in.

All three of them were staring at Jade and Dave; she scooted a little closer to him, wondering what had just happened.

"Uh, anyone care to explain?" Dave asked, though his hand found hers and settled over it reassuringly. The quick smile he flashed her for an instant seemed to tell her not to worry, to let those irrational fears go. "Or are you just gonna leave us out in the goddamn dark?"

"There's an ancient prophecy," Roxy said excitedly. "It's sort of urban legend, sort of myth, except it was supposedly passed down a hell of a long time ago from a widely renowned Skaian seer—so, like, from before the Batterwitch got here. I don't remember the exact words off the top of my head, but it's got something like what Jake said, about a great cleansing wind sweeping every corner and every moment on Skaia to bring in the light of a new age. For a while we thought that was flowery language, because some other parts of it definitely reflect what's been going on on this planet, and we sort of thought that maybe part of it was about us and our movement, but..."

"But it sounds like it could definitely be your quartet," Jake finished for her, beaming. "Holy smokes! That's what the prophecy is really about!"

"Well, maybe," Dave frowned. "Prophecies are really vague by definition. You can never really know until you get a definite sign. It might be us, it might not."

Dirk nodded at him once. "I'm with my bro," he said. "I think we should try not to assume we know the prophecy again."

Roxy winced. "Yeah," she said more quietly. "Better not be overconfident and all that again, huh."

Dirk reached over to place a hand on her uninjured shoulder in a show of solidarity. She smiled at him, and the moment of regretfulness passed.

A short silence fell. Dave stared into the fire, and Jade looked off into the distance, staring at the stars. _I can feel them_, she thought, watching the sparkling pinpricks with awe—she was still, even now, getting used to the bounds of her new power, finding out what exactly she could do with it.

Now, she found that if she focused, she could extend her reach and senses out a million times past her former range, feeling every molecule and interaction in every bit of space way, way out from the planet. She could feel the heat transforming atomic bonds as countless people cooked dinner in the Dual Monarchy of Prospit-Derse, she could feel the crazy, frenzied jumble of polar molecules that composed the ocean all over Skaia, she could feel the immense heat and pressure making atoms fuse in the heart of a star over a light-year away.

It was more than a little overwhelming, a reminder that even with Jane's healing, she had way too much power in her. Wielding all of it might destroy her. But... that wasn't a pleasant thought.

"Well," Jake spoke up, breaking the silence and drawing everyone's attention. "That certainly was a lovely meal, no thanks to you lot for helping cook it!" He teasingly shook a finger at the rest of them, and they laughed. "What do you say to the idea of us all playing cards before bed tonight?"

"Sounds great!" Roxy answered. Jade looked over and caught Dirk's eye, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded at her. Dave, catching that, looked to her questioningly.

"A few rounds sound fine, but me and Dirk gonna call it an early night," she said by way of response. "We've gotta get up early tomorrow."

"What for?" Jake asked.

"Blowing shit up and bugging the Empress," Dirk answered offhandedly, as if this were a totally common and normal thing to do. "What else?"

"Oh, what else indeed," Jake scoffed. "Forgive me for asking—perhaps you might have been building a spaceship! I can never know."

Dirk laughed. Jade shook her head at their silliness. "We're going to go for a few minutes," she said. "Just to a little communications tower in the Fields. We won't be long, we'll probably be back before most of you wake up!"

"Can I come?" Dave asked. Jade blinked and looked at him in surprise, then nodded.

"Of course!" she said. "The more the merrier, right?"

He probably actually wanted to come to make sure she was okay and that nothing went wrong, knowing him. But she didn't mind that. Tactically speaking, having a Time mage would also all but ensure that nothing _could _go wrong. Plus, he was Dave. She didn't need tactical excuses to be happy to spend time with him.

"Great," Dirk said. "Now that that's all settled, what card game are we playing, Rox?"

As the five of them sat around the glowing embers of their fire, their laughter rang out over the beach and the crystalline ocean, illuminated by the glimmering myriad of stars hanging like jewels in the evening sky. It had been a good day.

* * *

_AN: Well. Today was the greaaaaaat update we all loved, huh?_

_(Those of you who follow me on tumblr definitely know exactly what I mean, at least. For the rest of you, let's just say that I wasn't pleased with it. At all.)_

_SO, to raise a big ol' fuck you to that, have some more D&amp;D! _

_It's funny, a few hours I was fretting like "Oh no, am I putting too many hints towards DaveJade in?" and now I'm like sorely tempted to declare them canon in the next chapter. Thanks, upd8. El-oh-el. Fuck yeah DaveJade, and that's really all there is to say on the matter. B)_

_Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing! :)_


	52. Chapter 52: Rose - Dusk Revelations

_And here we are, at the end of another day spent walking along the old seaside road_, Rose thought.

Right now, the three of them were walking back from the small town nearby to their campsite. It was about two hours away, and it was the second day of Rose feeling like she was capable of living like herself again—truly a very, very nice feeling indeed.

She hefted the basket of groceries in her hand, setting it on her hip for a few paces. It was a bit heavy and it also contained eggs, meaning that she had to be rather careful not to drop it! Whenever her arms got tired she'd pass it to John and take the clothes that Jane carried. Right now, John was carrying very little, because they only had two baskets; they all agreed to trade off who carried what for the duration of the walk. That was only fair, after all.

"Well," John said cheerfully, hefting the clinking bag of coins in his hand, "that was fun."

Rose nodded, turning her face up to the sky to catch the last of the evening sunbeams that painted the clouds a glorious golden hue. "I'm glad we had today," she said. "It's been a while since we had fun!"

"We should have fun more often," Jane suggested from Rose's other side where she walked with a bounce in her step, her lips quirked in a smile that was very reminiscent of the one on John's face. "Fun is an essential part of any lifestyle, you know!"

"Wise words from a wise Nanna," John said solemnly before breaking into laughter as Jane squawked and darted around Rose to lightly swat his shoulder.

"I'm not your grandmother, young man!" she scolded, laughing even as she did. Rose shook her head and smiled at them both.

"You sure sound like you might be, young lady," John teased, light on his feet as ever as he danced away from his grandmotherdaughter.

"Are you sure about that, Poppop?" she called back, raising her eyebrows in an expression Rose had seen many a time on Mrs. Egbert's face, years and years ago before the fire and everything else that had followed it. "I think you're the old one here!"

"Nope, it's you," he asserted, shaking his head as he skipped around Rose to put her between himself and Jane.

"I think it's you!" Jane countered, darting around Rose to chase him. Rose shook her head, laughing, and kept walking even as they ran in circles about her.

"You!"

"No, you!"

"Definitely you!"

"You're going to tire yourselves out before we even get near home," she observed, amused, as they kept that up. Of course the two of them would be persistent enough for this—but then again, they were all riding the high of a day well spent, still soaking in the golden afterglow of a truly joyous afternoon and evening. Rose herself was still basking in that feeling, her heart soaring.

"Pretty much," John agreed, sidestepping around her again. "You, Jane!"

Rose laughed and grabbed both of their hands, letting the basket of goods they'd shopped for earlier slide down her arm to her elbow as she twirled around with them both running in circles, whooping. She felt so lighthearted she could dance!

The three of them ran a ways down the road, chasing each other for no real reason and laughing when they caught each other until they were all winded, sitting down to catch their breath on the stones by the roadside. Chortling, Jane flopped over and leaned heavily against Rose's side, sending her into John, who windmilled for a second before he fell over.

They all lay there for a moment, Jane on Rose and Rose on John, until John groaned. "Oh come on," he complained, grinning despite his efforts not to, "get up!"

Rose shifted so her face was right above his. "But what if we're quite comfortable just like this?" she teased, eyes dancing with mirth. It had been a while since she'd felt _herself _enough to joke around like this, and oh believe her that she was going to enjoy every second of it.

John rolled his eyes. "What if I'm not, though?" he asked. "I mean, not that I'm not, but what if—oh, for fuck's sake. You know what I mean!"

"Yes, I do." She laughed, pecked the tip of his nose, and rolled over. Jane sat up, brushing her clothes off, and held out her hands to pull them both to their feet, and the three of them resumed walking, a bit more sedately this time.

Rose hummed as they went, a bright and chipper tune rather removed from her usual somber tastes. Today was a good day, what could she say? Today was the first day in a few months that she didn't feel a darkness lingering on the edges of her mind, receding from the edges of her vision every time she tried to pin it down. Today was the first day she felt free again! It was a euphoric feeling. Once again, she renewed her vow to herself—never again would she go down that dark road that she had when her mother died. Never again.

When they returned to camp, they immediately set about restocking their provisions and sorting out the things they'd purchased in town that day. Rose folded the new clothes while Jane put the food supplies away and John set about starting dinner preparations.

"I'm making brownies!" Jane sang, stepping over to the fireside with a tray already in hand. "Fresh eggs need to be used before someone breaks them!"

"Hey!" John protested. "That was only once!"

"Still happened, with six whole eggs left, too," Jane shrugged, grinning as she ruffled his hair. He rolled his eyes but grinned back. "It was such a shame, really."

"Oh, shush and just pass the eggs, will you?" he asked, holding out a hand after Jane cracked three into a bowl.

"Only if you promise not to drop them," she teased even as she handed the box over.

John took it and of course immediately pretended to fumble and lose his grip, nearly letting it tumble to the dirt. "Whoops!" he said very innocently, giving Jane his sweetest and most innocent smile.

"Never will I make the mistake of trusting you with eggs again!" she said, shaking her head, and John laughed.

Rose left the two of them to sit by the fire and cook. That was their thing, after all. Meanwhile, she looked into the bag for the somewhat expensive item her Light had told her that she should buy—she needed to initiate a trance to figure out why, but when those premonitions and feelings came, she knew better than to disregard them. So she'd taken a risk and a bit of a chunk from their finances and made the purchase.

Ducking into the tent with the item in hand, she sat down cross-legged and looked at the communicator sitting innocuously on her fingers.

Well, she supposed, it was time to figure out what her visions wanted to tell her this time. She'd be going into a full trance now, something she hadn't done in months. She'd attempted a smaller one yesterday, after Jane had healed her, but had saved most of her energy to be sure she didn't accidentally mess up and undo whatever the other girl had done.

The last time she'd entered a real, full trance had been before the Tunnels collapsed. That had been a while ago. Now, it was time to do it again.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and let it out, followed by another. On the third inhale she lifted her hands, joining the fingertips, and then began to pull them apart as she opened her eyes. Between her palms a pinprick of light began to grow, gleaming golden and lavender—the color of Light and that of her own power—in flashes. Rose stared into it, seeing past the white, blinding brightness into the continuum of knowledge. As usual, she became totally unaware of the passing of time, totally ensnared in a web of concentration.

Immediately her mind's eye was assaulted by a barrage from all sides. Images flowed past her too fast to catch, a whirlwind or a maelstrom of more knowledge than she could ever possibly hope to grasp in a thousand years. She didn't try; instead, she let her mind drift passively, guided by her Light.

That was the thing about being a seer—one had to completely trust herself to her element. Rose didn't control the Light, she was merely its passive vessel. It would guide her to the vision she needed to see, she knew, and that would be that.

_An island. Not too large, but sizeable enough that at first glance she didn't notice the decrepit house tucked under the mountainside. The trees waved in a soft, warm breeze as the sun set, coloring the sky and sea gloriously golden until it sank fully beneath the waves and the stars started to come out, twinkling brightly like gems in the dark velvet of the sky. Then she noticed the cheerily crackling fire on the beach, directed her attention there—_

_Five people sat around it, sharing fresh fruit and laughing. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but the vision told her that this was recent, within a night or two—either it had just happened, or it was about to._

As she leaned in closer, her mind's eye showed her the back of the nearest person_. He's painfully familiar, as was the girl next to him with her head on his shoulder. Without trying to change anything to confirm, she knew who they were._

She nearly jolted herself from the vision in shock; only years of practice kept her from breaking her trance. Hurriedly she looked closer, needing to see if the rest were the people she thought they were, too. She had to know, she had to know...

_Another girl, this one with a wounded shoulder. She leaned over to see something in the second boy's hand, a holographic communicator with some words and numbers that despite her efforts Rose couldn't see clearly. _

The Light did not form that image in her mind's eye, and she had to accept it. It was frustrating.

_The third boy, bespectacled and crowned with a head of thick dark hair, was laughing as he said something to—to the girl that there was no use in pretending wasn't Jade. _

She did not need to see more.

Gasping, Rose ended the trance, staring at the spot on the blanket under her that her pinprick of Light had been in front of. She could hardly believe it—not one, not two, but all five of them were alive and together! Something had happened to Roxy, something of which she wasn't sure and would have to either Look for or ask the other girl when they met again—because they _would _meet again, she was going to make that happen!

Because they were all alive. They were all alive. _They were all alive!_

When she caught her breath sufficiently, feeling awe and joy and giddiness thrumming through her, she jumped to her feet and burst out of the tent, all but running headlong into John.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, steadying her on her feet. "I was just coming to get you for dinner—hey, you look kinda pale. You okay?"

Rose nodded and beamed with exhilaration, flinging her arms around him. "Better than okay," she cried. "Oh, John! I have the most wonderful news! They're not dead!"

John hugged her back, but then pulled away to look down at her with wide eyes, his hands squeezing hears. "_Who_ isn't dead?"

"Everyone!" she exulted. "All five of them are okay!"

"What?!" Jane called, taking a few steps towards Rose and John as she left the fireside, tentative and hesitant. "Did you—did you just say they're _all_ okay? That is, Roxy, Jake, Jade, Dave, and... and Dirk?"

Even as ecstatic as she was, Rose didn't miss that little hesitation before she said Dirk's name. She'd have to pull Jane aside and have a little heart-to-heart with her, later. For now, though, it was all about spreading the good news.

"Yes, I did," she confirmed. "All of them! Now that I can See properly again—yes, they are all fine, I Saw it and I _know _it."

John took in a deep breath, his hand unconsciously brushing Jade's pendant as his eyes widened in delight. "She's okay... They're all okay! Rose, they're okay!"

"I know!" Rose laughed, flinging out her arms. John caught her hands and whirled her around, letting out a whoop as the two of them spun around and around. If her heart had been soaring earlier, it was breaking free of orbit now!

Jane sat down hard with a _whump_, her hands pressed to her cheeks as she shook her head over and over. "I can't—I don't—I can hardly believe this!" she said. "They're alright, they truly are... oh, how are we ever going to find them, though? They could be anywhere!"

John looked to Rose, dismay marring the joyous wonder on his face. "Well..." he started, uncertain, "I don't know about that, but at least we can know they're okay? Right, Rose?"

The communicator was still in the tent where she'd forgotten it, too thrilled to even think about it before she had run out into the fading evening light. Oops. Letting go of John's hands, she smiled at him reassuringly before she ducked back inside and waited a second for her eyes to adjust to the dimness, spotting the communicator and grabbing it before she stepped outside again.

"Here we are," she said, presenting the device with a flourish and trying not to laugh at the frankly bamboozled expressions of her companions. "I knew this thing would come in handy, hm?"

"You bought that just today!" Jane said, flabbergasted, as she pushed herself to her feet again. "Did you know you would need it?"

Rose shook her head. "I had a feeling I would, but I didn't know why, at the time."

John nodded, understanding dawning over him like a wave crashing over the rocks near the seashore. "So how do we get in touch with them?" he asked, then stopped. "Rose, we're actually going to get in touch with them! Today!"

"Yes," she agreed, beaming. "Yes, we are! Now, as to how... well, I have a few ideas. I know at least Dirk has a communicator—" she glanced at Jane to gauge her reaction, but this time there wasn't much of one at the mention of Dirk's name "—and I know where they all are at this moment, though how the three of us would get there I'm less certain."

"Where are they?" John wanted to know.

"The island," Rose told him. "This universe's version of your old one, I mean. Jade must have taken everyone there."

John bounced on his feet a little bit. "She's there right now? Argh, Rose, I want to see her now! And Dave's there too? And also Jake? And Roxy and Dirk!"

Stifling a laugh at his enthusiasm Rose nodded. "Yes, John," she said. "That _is _what 'all of them' means."

"So we can get in touch with them, right? If Dirk has a communicator?" Jane asked, her eyes shining. "I know how to contact him—or... well, I did. He probably changed all his contact codes and everything, after all that... He's always been very cautious on that count, you know?" Her enthusiasm dimmed a bit, her shoulders slumping. John reached over to squeeze her hand.

"We'll figure something out," he said confidently. "Don't worry, Jane!"

She looked up with a little laugh. "Oh, I'm not that worried! I'm still—oh, I'm so very happy they're alive, you know?"

"I can scarcely believe it myself," Rose admitted, smiling broadly. Her cousin's face flashed through her mind, followed by that of her best friend, and then her motherdaughter—daughtermom, in Roxy's terms. She hadn't gotten to know Dirk that well, but she knew Jane would be ecstatic about seeing him, and she did miss Jake too. All of them did. It would be wonderful to finally be able to see them again!

Really, all they needed was to talk to Jade. If they could get in touch with Jade, the thousands of miles between them and the island, across deep ocean waters, would suddenly become irrelevant.

The question, then, was how to do that, if Dirk had changed all his contact codes. Maybe Rose would have to initiate a few more trances—active ones this time, searching for information. Searching was always more draining and difficult because she had to fight the flow to swim against the current of torrential thoughts, trying to find the one she was looking for—that was how she'd exhausted herself so terribly the first time. She would have to be more careful this time.

"We could always still try calling Dirk," John said. "Maybe he didn't change his number after all, you know?"

"Knowing him, I'm sure he did, but it couldn't hurt to try," Jane sighed. "Let's do it."

"Yes," Rose agreed. "Tell me the code and I'll put it in."

Then the communicator in her hand dinged.

All three of them stared at it for a moment—it was brand new, and they hadn't touched anything. Who would have contacted them? _How _would someone have contacted them?

Rose finally decided to cautiously see what the message said, beckoning John and Jane over to read over her shoulders because this model was too cheap to be holographic, only having a display screen.

UU: hello there rose!  
UU: yoU and i have never conversed before from yoUr perspective, bUt i assUre yoU we have from mine!  
UU: time shenanigans are involved in this conversation, thoUgh, so regrettably i probably cannot answer many of yoUr qUestions.

TT: Who are you?

"Aren't you going to ask how they knew your name?" Jane asked, wide-eyed as she peered over Rose's shoulder. Rose shook her head.

"If I did that," she said, "they would have my implicit confirmation that Rose is indeed my name."

UU: call me callie! ^U^  
UU: also jane is there, is she not?  
UU: give her my fondest regards, if yoU will!  
UU: anyway, i really oUght to be getting to the point here, shoUldn't i...

TT: Yes, I agree. You still haven't really answered my question, by the way.

UU: i am merely a messenger!  
UU: i carry a missive from dirk, later on in yoUr timeline.  
UU: and here it is, for yoUr viewing pleasUre!  
UU sent a file: [DirkNewContactCodes]  
File Transfer Complete

TT: How did you get this?

UU: caUsal spoilers! :u  
UU: well farewell for now rose! it was lovely speaking with yoU!  
UU: oh botheration, john is there too! hello to him as well.  
UU: and now i mUst be gone, sadly!  
UU: Until next time!

— Transmission terminated —

"What," John said.

"That sounds just about right as far as my feelings on this go," Jane added, folding her arms. "Who _is _this mystery person, and how did they get our number? How did they know our _names_?"

"I don't know," Rose said. "But this file has some contact information. I don't know if it'll connect us to Dirk, but... what do you think? Should we try them and see who we get?"

Jane bit her lip, then nodded. "I want to."

John nodded decisively as well. "If we need to throw the communicator into the sea and run for the hills because something goes wrong, oh well, we won't have this curiosity itching at us, right?"

"Right," Rose agreed. "Alright, then. Let's do this."

* * *

_AN: Well, so much for my consistent update schedule, right? :/ Oh well, I still have a little leeway to meet my target date for finishing this fic up!_

_Also man, all the reviews are talking about how cute stuff has been for a while! Seems strangely out of character for me, huh? (Don't worry... I'll be back to normal soon~!)_

_Thanks for reading, and for reviewers I LOVE YOU GUYS :D_


	53. Chapter 53: Roxy - Bitter And Sweet

It was late morning when Roxy finally got out of bed, gingerly sitting up and trying her best not to move her injured shoulder or arm. Ow. That still hurt like a bitch!

Pushing the covers aside, she slid out of bed in the tiny room and sighed, looking around her sparse walls. This was in the tent, so she should have been happier she even had a bedroom—they had Jade's spacey powers to thank for that—but it just felt a bit suffocating and not very homey at all. There were no decorations, no pictures, nothing to make it feel right.

Well, she was going to go outside for now. There was no point in sitting around here. Plus, Jake would want to look at her shoulder, most likely, and change the bandages and whatnot. The other three were out, "wrecking shit" in Dirk's words. Roxy would have _liked _to go, but... shoulder.

Ow.

Stupid soldier with his stupid gun.

Ambling from the room into the narrow hallway that led to the teeny-tiny sitting room by the tent flap, Roxy looked around. Where was Jake?

"Jake?" she called. Maybe he was outside—she wouldn't blame him for that at all. The tent was where they slept, and that was about it. Inside felt stifling, while outside was a gorgeous island and the beach! Who _wouldn't _stay outside all the time?

Well, there was no answer inside, so she washed up as best as she could and then ducked through the flap. The campsite outside was still deserted, no Jake in sight, and she found herself blowing out a somewhat exasperated breath. Where _was _he? She didn't want to sit around, alone, and bored, and lonely, and also on her own. Having her shoulder like this pretty much ruined any chance she would have had at running around in the water, or running around in general, actually. She could only enjoy scenery for so long!

Walking a few more paces out, circling the glowing embers that remained of last night's campfire, and finally plopping down on the sandy ground, she sighed. Maybe she could take a walk inland, explore the grasslands and the forest along the slopes of the volcano.

Then again, if she did that and managed to fall over and hurt herself, no one would know where she was, and ... yeah, that was a bad idea, again, thanks to the damn shoulder.

She missed Jane. She missed Jane so damn much! Not just for the healing powers—she just always thought of her when she thought about how earlier, she'd taken not being injured for long for granted, had always assumed Jane would always be there with a soothing touch to stop any pain. And now when she hurt, she wished for that touch, and then thinking about that touch made her think about the girl to whom that touch belonged, and _god _she missed her best friend so much.

Roxy frowned at the midmorning sun, hanging bright and clear in the sky above the island, before she ducked back into the tent, this time going to Dirk's little room. He'd said she could use his stuff, so...

With trembling fingers on one hand she dialed the number, even though she knew there would be no response. It had probably been disconnected by now, really. But she was going to call anyway.

Jane's bright and cheery voice rang out into the still air, and Roxy had to stifle a sob.

"Hi there! You've reached the inbox of Jane Crocker, which means either I'm busy or I just didn't feel like answering your call, I guess. Please leave a message!"

There was a beep, and then she could speak. "Uh... oh, god. Hey, Janey. It's—it's been a while, hasn't it?" she breathed, trying to keep the sudden tears that sprung to her eyes away, even as she repressed thoughts of last night's less than pleasant dreams. "I... Shit, I don't even know why I'm calling. I know you're never gonna hear this crap anyway. I mean... maybe you will, somehow, and I'll probably feel like an idiot? Dave said you're alive and I trust him on that, I just don't know if I'm ever gonna see you again anyway, and calling your old number is the only way I can hear your voice. And I know it's stupid, and I wish I could actually hear your voice, but you aren't here and I just—"

_Beep._

"Your message has been recorded," the cold, automated voice said. "Good bye."

Roxy dropped the communicator to the blanket, feeling her knees giving out under her as she sat down hard on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her good hand. "Fuck..."

"Roxy?" Jake's voice called. "Are you awake yet? It's nearly noon, you know..."

He was out in the sitting room, judging by the volume and direction of his voice. Probably he had just gotten back from wherever he'd been all morning, then. She lifted her head and shakily called back, "Y-yeah, I'm up. In Dirk's room, Jakey."

Talking to someone other than the ghost of Jane Crocker would probably be a good idea. When Jake came in, he immediately sat down next to her, concern written all over his face. "Are you alright?"

She gave him a wan smile. "I'm... no, not really. I'm just being so damn _stupid_, Jake, god! I keep thinking about her and how much I miss her and I can't get her out of my head, because I don't know if she's okay or anything about what's going on—"

"Roxy?" Jake interrupted apologetically. "Are you talking about Jane or Rose?"

"Rose!" Wait, no. "Jane! Both of them!" she cried agitatedly. "I had a dream about Rose and I just called Jane and left her another message. Jake, Jake, why am I so bad at getting over people?"

Jake took her hand in his, careful not to jostle her arm. "Because getting over people is hard," he said reasonably. "Because it hurts to feel alone, and it hurts to let go, and you sit there and think _gee willikers, would I like to pretend it's okay again_, but you can't, because that's only pretend, and playing pretend will just hurt you more in the long run."

Every word he said made sense. She just didn't want to believe them. So instead of worrying about that, she sighed and dropped her head to his shoulder. "I know Jane's alive, but I keep worrying about her. What if the Batterwitch has her? Or Lord English again? And we're just sitting here having a good time on the beach! And I don't even _know _about Rose, the same way you don't know about John! They could be dead, but we don't _know_, and if we don't know we can't just give up on them, but we don't know they aren't dead either!"

"I know," Jake sighed, resting his chin atop her head. "I know exactly the feeling you mean. Not a very pleasant one, is it?"

"No," she shook her head slightly, not lifting it from his shoulder. "No, it is not."

"If you want to know my way of dealing with it," he said then, thoughtful, after a heartbeat of silence, "I look at our good time on the beach as our way of coping. I don't think Jane would want us worrying and crying all the time, and I certainly don't like seeing you upset, you see?"

"Kind of," Roxy admitted, feeling almost guilty that she was doing so even though once again, Jake's words were filling her with golden warmth. She didn't know if it was his magic or just him and his ability to always reassure her—were those linked? Probably; Rose would have known—but she was starting to feel better either way.

"Good," Jake nodded, then gently kissed her hair. "I like to see it as our way of healing while we don't know. Fretting won't help us find anything out, so it won't help them, and it certainly doesn't help us either, you know."

That was logic she couldn't possibly argue with. "You're right," she said with a little sheepish laugh, wrapping her good arm around him. "Oh, c'mere, you."

He hugged her carefully, ever-conscious of her shoulder wound, and then smiled softly. Roxy squeezed his hand.

"Thanks," she said, looking into his green eyes with an earnest, soft smile. "You are the best, Jakey dear."

"Nonsense!" he shook his head even as his dimples showed up as her words made his smile grow. "That would be you. Now, what do you say to me helping you with that bandage, and then we can go eat all the mangoes I went and picked this morning?"

"Oh, is that where you were?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. She could put her sorrows behind her, for now.

Jake nodded. "If we eat them fast," he said, "the other three won't ever have to know they existed!"

* * *

By the time Dave, Dirk, and Jade returned from their wreckshitventure, as Jake and Roxy dubbed it in their absence, it was mid-afternoon. Roxy was victoriously collecting a handful of cards from Jake in their latest game when there was a green flash and the wreckshitrio (really, maybe she and Jake had had a little bit too much fun with their naming schemes, but could anyone blame them?) appeared on the beach. All three of them were dressed for weather a lot colder than that on the island, with heavy cloaks and coats and boots.

"Hey!" she called down to them, raising her uninjured arm in greeting as Jake twisted around to see them.

"Hi!" Jade called back, hand-in-hand with Dave as she skipped towards the tent and the two people sitting there. Roxy wiggled her eyebrows at Jake, who snorted as he tried not to laugh outright—the two of them may or may not have discussed the love lives of everyone in their group earlier out of boredom. Both agreed that Dave and Jade were totally head over heels for each other, even if they couldn't see it yet. Jake had said that they acted like a romantic motion picture trope, and Roxy, laughing, had agreed.

Dirk walked over and gracefully folded his legs to sit down next to her and Jake. "Yo," he greeted.

Roxy raised her eyebrows at him. Typical Dirk. He _would _be the one to go out doing magical, dangerous adventuring all morning and then come home and just greet her with 'yo'. Typical. "Yo," she replied. "How'd the wreckshitventure go, hm?"

He chuckled. "Wreckshitventure?"

"Well, yes," Jake said. "You were going adventuring, the purpose of which was supposedly to wreck shit. What else were we supposed to call it?"

"A leisurely vacation," Dave suggested, joining them. Jade headed into the tent, presumably to change out of her thick coat and pants into more island-appropriate weather. "Just taking a nice lovely stroll through a goddamn ice storm."

"Oh, that sounds so pleasant," Roxy said sardonically.

"It really wasn't," Dirk shook his head, reaching up to brush some rapidly-melting ice crystals from his hair. "Will you look at that, it gave me white hairs."

"Must've been stressful," Jake commented, amused, before he returned to a more serious countenance. "But really. What did you do today? Roxy and I have been terribly curious all morning, let me tell you."

Dave shrugged lightly, stripping off his cloak, boots, and outer coat. "We went up north in the mountains, you know that place where she keeps a backup hard copy of her most secure intel and shit?"

_Most secure intel and shit._ Roxy perked up. "I don't suppose you stole any," she said hopefully. "Man, I would love to get my hands on that stuff."

In answer, Dirk looked around. "Huh. I wonder what she did with it."

"What who did with what?" Jade skipped out of the tent in a sundress she had made from some of the same material Roxy's shirt had been sewn from. It was very pretty fabric, lightweight and pastel in color, perfect for sitting around on a beach. Roxy really wanted to start sewing again just so she would have _something _to do, but her shoulder once again got in the way of that. God_dammit_, soldier dude.

"Hi, cutie," Roxy greeted her again. "Looking sharp!"

Jade giggled. "And so are you!"

"I think he was asking what you did with the intel stuff?" Roxy added, answering the question from a second before with a hopeful gleam in her eye. "Please tell me you stole it. That would be _so great_."

"Hm? Oh, that!" Jade reached into the satchel at her side and pulled out a tiny cube-shaped crate, no bigger than the palm of her hand. "It's all in here!"

Roxy stared at the cube. "How much, exactly, is 'all' in that box?"

"Oh, hmm..." Jade considered the question, cocking her head to the side and tapping a finger to her chin in thought. "I think a lot. A lot a lot."

"What she's trying to explain is that we pretty much cleared the Batterwitch out," Dirk said, amusement tugging the corners of his lips into a grin. "Made it look like we just burned the whole building down, Jade teleported in a shitload of blank papers to look like the residue from all that, it was a piece of cake, really."

Jake shook his head slowly, clapping his hands as he marveled. "Well _bravo_ to that," he said. "That's ... that sure is something you did back there!"

"Sure is," Dave agreed. "Something. Now, if y'all will excuse me, I'm gonna go change out of this hot shit." He stood, cloak and coat under one arm and boots in the other hand, and jogged back to the tent. After a second, Dirk stood and followed him, citing similar reasons.

Jade shook her head at them. "You'd think they would go ahead and change when they get back here, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yes," Roxy said, "but who claimed our boys had two grains of common sense in their lovable heads?"

Jade laughed. "No one, which is good, because I'd hate to have to refute them so soundly!"

Jake cleared his throat, a look of false offense on his face. "Excuse me," he interrupted, "but one of your boys is still sitting right here and overhearing every falsehood you spread about them." He pushed his glasses up on his nose, obviously trying not to just laugh instead, and did his best at frowning at the two of them. Roxy giggled.

"Are you saying there's less than two grains of common sense in there?" she teased, nudging him with her uninjured arm. "Only one, or none at all?"

"Harsh, Jake!" Jade added, her face alight with levity. Then she sat back and looked at the two of them. "So what have you both done all morning and, uh, early afternoon, while we were out?"

"Oh, nothing much," Roxy said, barely stopping herself from adding a sly shrug before she did and hurt her shoulder. She'd made that mistake once before, thank you very much, and she had no intentions of repeating it! (Ow!)

"We just ate all the best mangoes on the island," Jake finished, smiling innocently. "Don't tell the Striders, Jade, but I saved you some."

Jade's expression went from mild dismay to glee. "Yes!" she cheered, flinging her arms around Jake spontaneously. "You're the best!"

The three of them polished off the remaining mangoes between them just as Dave and Dirk exited the tent, now much more appropriately dressed for the weather. Dirk was idly tossing his communicator from hand to hand as he sat back down, while Dave just went and sprawled in the sand with his head on Jade's leg.

"Yes?" she asked, looking down at him with an expression somewhere between quizzical and fondly amused.

He reached up and used a hand on her cheek to push her a bit to the side so that her shadow fell across his face. "Stay right there."

Jade laughed and ruffled his hair, but complied. The five of them relaxed together for a few minutes, enjoying the idyllic island weather—really, it hardly ever stormed here, Roxy thought; it rained sometimes, a nice warm rain that was fun to dance around and splash in puddles in, but that was the worst of it—and each other's company.

Then Dirk's communicator started to ring.

All of them jumped as he whipped it out, staring at the screen incredulously. "Unknown caller," he said, frowning. "We should probably not pick up."

"What if it's someone we want to talk to?" Roxy countered, thinking of Jane but not wanting to say her name; if anyone was more vulnerable to thinking of Jane and being more than a little upset about what might be happening to her, it was Dirk, whose last memories of her were fuzzy and vague from the Tunnels and before that hellish captivity.

Jake solved the problem by grabbing the device from Dirk's hand. "They might know your voice, Mister Prince, but not mine," he said, right before he accepted the call. "Hello?"

He was silent for a second, the blood draining from his face and his eyes going wide.

"Oh my _god_."

Roxy leaned forward anxiously. "What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Do we need to do something? We can destroy that and get rid of it so that no one can track it if we need to," Jade added, but Jake remained silent, obviously listening intently to whatever the other person was saying.

"Oh my god, oh my god," he said again. "I can hardly believe you're really there, you're alright—oh, Jane!"

Everyone froze

"Put it on speaker mode," Dirk instructed softly, his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. After a moment of fumbling with clumsy fingers, Jake complied, holding the communicator out so they could all hear, and Roxy carefully moved her injured arm just enough to put her hand on Dirk's, lacing her fingers with his and holding on tight.

"H-hello?" Jane's voice said, unsure. "Jake? Are you there?"

"I'm—I'm here," Jake said quickly. "So is everyone else! You're on speaker now, we can all hear you."

Jane laughed shakily. "Oh, why didn't I think of that? Let me do that too. Oh, confound this thing—Rose, where's the button?"

"Rose?!" Dave, Roxy, and Jade all gasped at once, their eyes going even wider, if that were possible. Roxy reeled from the shock, leaning heavily on her good arm to keep herself from falling over; Dirk glanced at her, concerned, but she waved him off.

"And John," Jane added. Jade shook her head, smiling tremulously.

"Where are you?" she asked. "Forget the communicator, just tell me where you are."

"Um, right," Jane said. "Here, I'll send you our precise coordinates, does that work?" She sounded a bit unsure but alright, Roxy thought. Jane was alright, she was alright, Rose was alright, and John, too! Oh, she was going to cry from happiness!

The text file arrived with a ding. Jade took the communicator, looked at it, and nodded. "I'll be right there," she said, and disappeared with a green flash.

"Oh my god," Roxy said. "They're coming home."

"They're coming home," Jake agreed, starry-eyed. "They're coming home."

* * *

_AN: WHOOPS gotta wait another chapter, sorry guys :P by which I mean I'm actually not sorry, but you know. Hehe._

_Also I just realized I have been forgetting to reply to reviews! Here's the actual whoops and sorry D:_

_Update schedule is tentatively back on track? We'll see. Maybe I can pull it off after all hahaha!_

_Thank you for reading and reviewing, you make me write faster! :)_


	54. Chapter 54: Reunion II

John and Rose were hurrying about, packing up the campsite as fast as they could. Jane stood in the midst of the frenzy, still holding the communicator. She'd just sent the message to Jade, and—

A blinding green flash zapped not more than two or three meters in front of her and she blinked, trying to clear the spots from her vision, as a squeal and a shout of "Jade!" rang out in her ears. When she could see again, John had scooped Jade into his arms and was hugging her tightly, his face buried in her hair.

"Ohhh my gosh," Jade was laughing into his shoulder, clinging to him. "John..."

He didn't let her go for several long seconds, until Rose cleared her throat. "Excuse me," she said, a bright smile making her whole face light up. "As much as I hate to break you two up—oof!"

"Rose!" Jade tackled her, burying her face in her shoulder and wrapping her arms around her waist. "Rose, oh my gosh, I'm—you're okay!"

John wrapped his arms around them both. "And _you're _okay," he marveled, kissing his sister's forehead. "I was so worried about you, you have no idea..."

"Oh, I think I have some idea," Jade wrinkled her nose, grinning up at him. "Maybe about as worried as I was about you, hmm?"

Jane watched the trio happily holding onto each other and sighed to herself. She missed her friends more than ever, and knowing they were just a space-hop away made her want to see them even more desperately! A stab of impatience shot through her, as guilty as it made her feel, as she looked at them. _She _wanted that too, she wanted her friends back!

"And Jane!" was all the warning she got before Jade Harley rammed into her side with all the delicacy of a spaceship at warp, knocking the breath from her lungs. "Janey, Jane, Jane!"

"I—oh," she wrapped her arms around the other girl, feeling those vestiges of jealousy from seeing John and Rose and Jade melting away to be replaced by more guilt for feeling that way to begin with. They weren't leaving her out or anything! She just really missed her friends, she guessed. "Hi there, Jade," she said softly. It was ... it was almost easy to forget that in another life, the girl in her arms was flesh and blood family. She ought to remember that better.

"Hi," Jade said, lifting her head from Jane's shoulder to beam at her. "Okay, everyone packed? Is there anything not packed you need? Don't worry about it if there is, it's cool, I've got it, just tell me what to look for!"

"Just about everything's packed," John told her. "We were in the process of making a late dinner and getting ready to leave here tomorrow when we called you, actually."

Jade let go of Jane's hands to twirl over to him, leaving Jane breathless in her wake. It was like power flowed in every move the other girl made, power and grace and magic. She was something the likes of which Jane had really never seen before—the day Jade had appeared in her cell and whisked her away, brought her home, was still etched firmly in her memory. She had a feeling it would never really leave her mind.

"Perfect!" Jade was saying, clapping her hands with a bright smile before she hugged John again. "Mm, I've missed you." Then she danced away, looking around the campsite.

Walking a few paces away from the rest of them, she glanced over everything and nodded to herself, then raised a hand about chest-level and waved her fingers. Green sparks erupted from her fingertips, blowing on an unseen wind of some sort to land on everything that needed to be moved. As soon as they made contact, the tents and boxes and everything else vanished in green flashes, until the four of them stood in a patch of dirt that looked as if no one had ever been there, save for the now-extinguished firepit. Jane stared at it for a few moments, still in awe of the casual display of such magic that Jade had just pulled off.

"Well," the other girl said expectantly, looking at Rose, John, and Jane, "are we ready to go?"

"Go where?" Jane found herself asking, shrinking back a little when everyone looked at her. "Sorry, should I have known that already?"

"Oh! No," John shook his head. "Uh, Jade and I used to live on an island in our universe, with our you and our grandpa, too. That same island exists here, and that's where we're going!"

"It's where everyone else is," Jade added, beaming. "We're all just—oh, everyone will be so excited! ...Oh, and no one tackle Roxy, please, she got shot—"

"She _what_?!" Jane yelped. "Is she okay? Does she need anything? Can we—"

"Hey, hey! Calm down," Jade held up her hands placatingly. "She's fine, I promise! It just hit her shoulder and she is mad about the fact that she can't use her arm thanks to it, but other than that she's fine. It happened when they tried to kill me and Dirk."

"Who, and what?" John frowned, slipping his hand into hers. Jade squeezed it even as she looked up at him sheepishly.

"The Batterwitch, and I think it was mostly Dirk!" she protested.

"Yes, yes," Rose interrupted. "As much as I'd love to keep chatting..."

Jade beamed, holding out her other hand. "Chatting is more fun with eight people rather than four, right?"

"Right," Rose agreed, taking Jade's hand. Then she turned to Jane and held out her own, giving her a soft smile that seemed to say _trust me, come on._ Jane interlaced her fingers with Rose's.

The world dissolved into brilliant green for a short, brief eternity, and then suddenly the sun was in the sky again and she was on the beach, not a little ways away from the edge of short stony sea cliffs. And there were—

"Jane!" Jake scooped her up and twirled her around and around, laughing as he pressed her close and she let out a peal of laughter, flinging her arms around his neck. Oh, it felt so good to see him! It had been too long. He must have been so lonely in the Imperial City all alone...come to think of that, how had he gotten out here with everyone else, anyway?

"Hi, Jake," she laughed, hugging him tightly when he finally set her back down. "I'm—oh, I'm so glad to see you!"

"Not possibly as glad as I am to see you," he said with a little teasing grin as she kissed his cheek. "The reason that it's not possible is that my joy at seeing you alive and well knows no bounds. It grows exponentially."

"So does mine!" Jane protested laughingly, giving him a squeeze. "I think we'll have to set the two quantities equal."

"Hm, I suppose we might," he conceded, eyes dancing.

"Hey, Jake!" Roxy's voice cut into Jane's happy little haze, and her eyes slid from Jake's green ones to the blonde girl standing a few feet away. "As resident temporary cripple, I think I get to hug Janey now!"

"You're not crippled, you just got hit in the shoulder," Jake objected, but he let go of Jane and with a light push, propelled her at Roxy anyway. Behind them, Dave was greeting John and Rose, but Jane wasn't really paying attention to that as she wrapped her arms around Roxy, nestling her head into the crook of the other girl's neck on the uninjured side.

"Hey there, honey," Roxy cooed, hugging her tight with one arm and gingerly resting the other hand on her back. "How's it going?"

"Oh, I've missed you," Jane mumbled, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh of contentment. "I've missed you so much. Both of you, really."

Jake wrapped his arms around both of them, resting his chin atop Jane's head. "We've missed you, too," he said. "I still can hardly believe you're really here!"

"We were so worried," Roxy added. "Didn't know what happened to you, whether you were okay, anything! Well, we knew you were alive, but anything past that, no idea! We probably stress-ate fifteen mangoes at once, right, Jake?"

"Only fifteen?" Jane asked, raising her eyebrows. Then she smiled and gently patted Roxy's uninjured shoulder. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to worry you, you know, but it was a little hard not to, I guess. I was so worried about you both, too!"

"Worry party all around, huh?" Roxy snorted. "Well, it's all over now, isn't it!"

"Yeah," Jake said, immense relief in his voice. "It's all over, we're all okay! We all made it. You know, that's something. We all made it, and we're back together."

"I think this calls for a celebration," Roxy said. "With more mangoes and coconuts and stuff—oh my god, Janey, the fruit on this island is _so _good. We never got anything like this back in the City, just wait til you try it!"

"I bet it is, and we definitely do need to celebrate. But first, let me see your shoulder," Jane said, giving her a gentle squeeze. But Roxy shook her head.

"There's something else I need you to do for me first," she said, hugging Jane tighter before letting go. "You see, there was a tall robot dork sitting out here with me a second ago, but he sort of freaked out and ran back into the tent while we were waiting, and I need you to go collect him, if you don't mind."

Jane stilled completely. "Dirk...?"

"Dirk," Roxy confirmed. "He's nervous, doesn't know what to think. I... He's ... well, I think it would do him a world of good to see you. Same way it did me." Jane could tell there was a question on her lips, but she didn't ask it, so Jane didn't pry.

"Dirk and I need to have a long talk," she said instead, glancing at the tent and feeling a thrill run through her—finally, oh, _finally_, she was going to have the chance to see him again! "So I'm going to heal your shoulder first."

"Oh, fine," Roxy said, still beaming. "If you insist. But don't think Dirk gets to keep you forever, I have a claim too!"

"I do insist," Jane assured her, kissing her cheek. Jake wrapped an arm around her waist affectionately as she raised her hands to Roxy's shoulder and closed her eyes, summoning the magic that lay deep within herself into its manifested blue, misty light. It shimmered like sunlight on water, just like always, as she brought her hands over the wound, carefully unwrapping the bandages to reveal the injured flesh. It... ow. It did not look good, she would say that much.

She took a deep breath and began to focus her energy into its usual healing channels, thinking that they were all lucky this wound was from a laser blaster and not a real bullet gun, because this one had at least cauterized itself almost immediately and therefore reduced the risk of infection by a lot. As she worked, the wound grew less red and aggravated, the skin knitting itself back together until it was once again seamless.

"There," she said, looking at Roxy. "All better?"

Roxy swung her arm back and forth a few times. "All one hundred percent perfectly better!"

Jane beamed. "Perfect!" she said, and then let out a startled squeak as Roxy scooped her up and hugged her tight, holding her with her feet a bit off the ground for a second.

"There we go," the other girl said, grinning. "That's how I wanted to hug you earlier."

Laughing, Jane slowly withdrew. "Good to know," she said. "Now... I guess I'll go find Dirk?" Why did she sound like she was asking a question? Of course she was going to go find Dirk!

"Yes, you do that," Roxy said, her face softening. "I think it'll do you _both _a world of good."

Jane nodded slowly, turning to face the tent. It wasn't too far away, sitting nestled innocuously near the beginnings of the thin forest that marched down the slopes of the mountain—and yet, it seemed like an impossibly long distance lay between her and the entrance. Here she was, finally...

"Go on," Jake said gently. "We'll be right here waiting, don't you worry!"

"Right," she said with a little sheepish laugh, and then she put one foot in front of the other, and again, and again, until she was at the tent flap. Taking a deep breath, she strapped a bit of steel to her spine—what was she so nervous about, anyway?—and then ducked inside.

The first thing that struck her was that _whoa_, this was not how the inside of a tent should look. It was way bigger than the outside! There was actual furniture in here! It was like an apartment like she'd used to own, back in the Imperial City.

The second thing that struck her was that it was silent. She stepped forward, looking down the two hallways that split from the main room, and debated which one to go check first. They were both short, and she was a little closer to the one on the left, so she edged that way first, but all the doors there were open and all the rooms empty. Okay, right then.

One door was closed. She raised one hand and knocked twice.

"Roxy, I'm fine," Dirk's voice rang out. Jane found herself trembling suddenly, because his voice was strong and healthy again, not a hoarse scream under lashes and boots or a weak whisper as she desperately tried to save him. He was—he was okay. "I'll come out in a little bit, okay? I just need a minute."

"It's—it's not Roxy," she called back.

Silence.

Then the door opened and Dirk was standing there, looking down at her with surprise and some other emotion she couldn't place. For a brilliant moment that all but left her reeling, she just stared back at him, trying desperately to find the right words—were there any words for now?—as her mind only kept shouting _he's okay he's okay he's okay!_ and nothing else.

"Jane," he breathed, one hand coming up to just barely touch her cheek, lighter than a feather. "Jane."

"I'm here," she murmured, leaning into that merest of touches

She expected some sort of delicate tenderness, expected that he would almost be afraid to touch her, as if she was made of porcelain and he might break her.

Instead, the next thing she knew, he was crushing her to him, holding her so tightly that she was left breathless.

Her arms were pinned against his chest, but after several seconds she carefully, gently pushed him away just enough to slide her hands up to his shoulders, interlacing her fingers behind his neck as he pressed her close again, breathing hard and his heart pounding. He was here, he was okay, he was _here_, she could feel his arms around her—holding her so tightly she almost thought there might be a bruise or two around her waist and back—and she could feel his heart beating in his chest and she could hear his harsh breaths, each one another confirmation that he was alive and that he was okay, he was strong again. And suddenly she was aware of the tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes, but looking up she saw them glistening on his face too, and somehow that seemed like a good reason to just bury her face in his chest and slide one hand up into his hair, stroking it soothingly.

For a few long, blissful moments, they stayed just like that, standing in the doorway and holding on to each other. Jane relaxed against him, leaning into his embrace, and sighed, feeling weight she hadn't known she was carrying slide off her shoulders.

Neither of them seemed to want to pull away first, she thought wryly, and then started to giggle, because here they were, standing half in and half out of a room and just clinging to each other. Whatever little fears she had had—that he wouldn't be okay and that she would have to deal with him not being okay and it being her fault—had melted away completely in the warmth of his arms, cheesy as that might have sounded.

"What are you laughing at?" She could hear the smile in his voice and gave him a squeeze, unable to even find the words to describe how utterly joyful she was at that moment.

"I don't know," she said, shrugging slightly. "I don't know! Look at us, oh my gosh," and then she was laughing again. "I'm just so, so happy to see you, Dirk, I'm so happy."

He finally drew back enough to look down at her, and she reached up to gently wipe away the one tear that had started to roll down his cheek. "Yeah," he said. "It's—it's really damn good to see you, too. God, Jane," and then he hugged her tightly again.

She let silence fall again, just humming contentedly and leaning against him with closed eyes, for a few moments. Then she asked the question that had been bothering her ever since Jade brought her to the island.

"Why weren't you outside?"

He stilled. She didn't mind, though, because he wasn't pulling away, and that meant all she had to do was wait for him to find words, not pry it out of him.

"I ..." he took a deep breath. "I don't know. I thought... I thought maybe you wouldn't want to see me." His voice was small and his posture slumped.

"Dirk!" she was startled into exclaiming, jerking her head up from his shoulder to look at him. "Why in the world would you ever think that?"

He shrugged, took his hand from her back to gesture helplessly, then unhappily shrugged again. "I—you were there, you saw what I did. I know you—you wouldn't have wanted me to do that, you were saying 'stop, stop', and I didn't, and I thought you might have thought I'm just some... fuck, I don't know, maybe you thought I was a monster—"

"_Dirk Strider_." Jane waited until his eyes stopped being fixed on the floor and traveled up, slowly, waited until he met her unflinching gaze. "I could never, _ever _think anything like that of you," she told him slowly and emphatically. "You—oh, whatever you did, you did because you were trying to help us, to help _me_. Do you think I didn't know that?"

He didn't answer, but he didn't look away, either. She took that as acknowledgement and went on.

"For a while," she continued, "I thought—I thought they had _killed _you, Dirk, I thought I would never see you again and that the last thing I had ever said to you would be me screaming at you, and that was horrible! I didn't even let myself dream that I'd see you again! And then... and then you weren't dead, and I was so happy. I could never, ever think that of you, because it's not true!"

For a second, he looked like he would try to argue that point, but Jane narrowed her eyes at him. He had _better _not try to tell her that it was debatable, or she was going to... she would... she would cling on him until he admitted she was right!

She took a shaky breath now, thinking of those awful days spent in the silent bedroom with only him and herself, begging him to wake up, pleading that he open his eyes and be okay. Her voice dropped to little more than a whisper. "I _saw _what they did to you," she said quietly, wishing she could stop her voice from trembling. "_They_ are the monsters. Them! Not—not you, Dirk, never you..."

She couldn't go on. Dirk seemed to know that, fortunately, and held her closer as she pressed her face into his shoulder again, swallowing hard and taking deep breaths to try to keep from crying. He couldn't think that of himself, he couldn't, he _couldn't_! She wouldn't let him!

"Jane..." he murmured, and she stilled in his arms, listening. "You're—I—god, I don't even know what I'm trying to say. You... thank you."

"For what?" she sniffled.

"You saved my life," he said simply. "And after everything, you're still way too good to me."

"Oh, hush," she shook her head. "I would do anything for you, you know that. Or at least you'd better know that! Because I know you would for me."

"Yeah," he agreed, resting his chin atop her head. "I would. I know, too. I just wish I'd never put you in that position to begin with. I fucked up really bad that time, and you suffered for it. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing for me to forgive," she said softly. "It's not your fault."

Dirk shrugged ever so slightly. Jane made a face at him. "I mean," he said, "it kind of is—"

"Nope."

"Yeah, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Alright, alright, we could probably go on like that for a few hours, so let's just agree to disagree. I don't want to argue right now," he said with a little laugh. At the sound of that, Jane felt the sorrow and frustration melt away, replaced by the warm happiness from before, and nodded.

"Let's go outside with everyone else," she suggested, looking up at him with a slight smile. "It'll be nice!"

He nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

Hand-in-hand they left the little room, crossing the rug on the floor in the main entryway and walking to the tent flap. "We should sit and talk, later," Jane told him. "It's been a while."

He squeezed her hand. "Too long, Crocker. There's a lot of awesome shit I've gotta tell you about. Then again... maybe you already know about some of it. Depends on whether you've kept up with current events, I guess."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and trying not to laugh with giddy joy again, because he was here, he was really, truly here, and he was alright. They definitely would sit down and talk—about the bad stuff, but also the good—and they would both be okay!

Dirk grinned and let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Jade and I have some stories for you, man."

As they crossed the sand, Jane lightly nudged him with her arm. "Dirk?"

"Yeah?" he looked down at her.

"I love you!"

"Love you too," he said, soft smile and everything, and then pressed a kiss to her hair. Jane smiled back and kept walking, a slight bounce in her step now. Everyone was together again, and no matter what came, somehow she just knew. Everything would be okay.

* * *

_AN: Alright alright here you go, it's finally here. I'm sure you've been waiting impatiently, huh?_

_The actual plot will pick up again soon, but for now you just get some long-awaited reunion fluff. It sure has been a long time since Dirk and Jane talked, hasn't it?_

_Thanks for reading and for reviewing! :)_


	55. Chapter 55: Rose - Flight I

[Excerpt from a lengthy intelligence community report delivered to the desk of Her Imperious Condescension]

_We fear Lord English's faction is gaining support among the upper populace and the nobility rapidly_. _It is believed by some that the Shaded Prince and the Masked Maiden, if that is who he is still working with, which we do not know as his is the only name that has been left behind, are agents of that faction._

_Others among the common folk do not even know who or what Lord English is. They believe the fighting and skirmishes are caused by people fighting for their rights, just common folk like themselves, which is problematic, as they find it inspiring. Your guidance on how to deal with this matter would be very much appreciated, Your Majesty, if you would care to give it._

_Our sources on Derse and on Prospit indicate that Lord English has a growing number of footholds and spies there as well. We are working on finding the specifics as to their identities and will let you know of what we find as soon as we can._

_Meanwhile, on the note of the terrorist known as the Shaded Prince, here is an update on the status of our knowledge on that front:_

_He is likely the head of a widespread but small number of devoted followers. The attacks, as you of course already know, have been sporadic in location and do not appear to follow any pattern save one of relevance to an appeal to the people, which seems to be what this Shaded Prince is all about. Curious, however, are some of the most recent attacks._

_Firstly, that on the Mages' College. After analysis of the event was run and recordings that could be salvaged from the attack were scrutinized, it became very apparent that someone who fits two qualifications was involved. Firstly, they had a very good knowledge of the prisoners' compound, in order to set off such a strong diversion while the other went in pursuit of the data banks, and secondly, they were a fairly powerful Space mage. Guards who witnessed the diversion say that there was a girl who teleported multiple times, and had an uncanny feel for where their shots were fired. When the alarm went off, they say she teleported far from them, to the control room, according to camera feeds, where she retrieved an individual who does appear to be Dirk Strider, from what we know._

_Returning to the matter of Strider, who was presumed dead not once but twice now, in a moment, we will continue on the girl._

_As you know, all use of magic in the Mages' College is monitored with spells that track its effect. The girl appeared rather powerful in that her teleportation spell that removed herself and Strider from the premises was difficult to catch and eluded all but the vaguest of our spells, but we have deduced that her hideaway is somewhere in the Syllos Ocean. Most likely, it is on a chain of small islands formed long ago by volcanic activity—an unnamed archipelago approximately near the equatorial region. We humbly recommend sending a scouting patrol, one with defensive capabilities and magical dampers._

_There are very few people on this planet who are both strong in Space and who would have an intimate knowledge of the Mages' College prison compound. Adding this to an affiliation with Dirk Strider, we have performed some inquiry, the details of which we may share if it pleases you, but which we chose to leave from this report for the sake of conciseness._

_Jade English, the grandmother of Jake English, who has been seen in public before with Jane Crocker, Dirk Strider, and Roxanne Lalonde, was a Space mage arrested several years ago. She is one of a very small number of people who escaped the College—the only one, in fact, in over a hundred years. It is not known how she did this, as we had her killed almost ten years ago and the latest attack by the Shaded Prince, as you know, destroyed most records that were deemed too secret to keep on a network and therefore we cannot access those anymore, but it is a possibility that she had information that she passed down to her grandson, who gave it to his friend Strider. _

_This attack was definitely perpetrated at least in part by a powerful Space mage. The compound was heavily warded against any form of teleportation, conjuration, and magic in general, and these wards were broken by a sheer barrage of power. This is most likely the same Space mage working with Strider._

_English also used to live on one of the islands in this archipelago, according to our records. We find this correllation too strong to be coincidence, and humbly also recommend investigating the English family further._

_With regards to Strider, I regret to inform you that we lacked the knowledge of the Space mage when we deployed the team to Ensypi and thought him dead. It is likely that she managed to get him to safety, as well as Roxanne Lalonde and the boy living with her, who is on record as David Marlonde, though no previous record of this person exists. We are looking into his past at the moment._

_Moving onto other matters, it seems that unrest in the capital city is mostly tied back to the Rogue, a figure who keeps popping up in the dead of night but never has a face by day. It is likely that the Rogue does not have one cohesive personality and is instead a group of people, possibly even a disorganized one, that are all trying to continue what the Shaded Prince and the Masked Maiden started. Making an example of one would possibly put the rest in their places, but only if done in such a way that it could not be spun as a martyr's death. Alternatively, we also suggest considering the idea of having our own Rogue stir up trouble between the Upper and Lower rings so that their energy is turned onto each other, and not onto your illustrious self._

_Politically speaking, now, it seems more than likely that the trade agreement with Alternia is going to work out now that the Beforan Corollary has been ratified._

[End of excerpt]

* * *

A few days drifted by, filled with contentment and warmth, both the kind that came from the sunbeams on one's face and the kind that was mostly derived from spending time with those one had presumed lost forever. Rose allowed herself to relax for once, lying on her back in the shade of the copse of trees not too far from the tent. Dave was lying adjacent to her, his head pillowed on his hands as he stared up at the clouds floating overhead.

"Y'know," he said, not turning his head, "that one looks sort of like it could be a horse, if you stretch out the middle a bit."

She followed his gaze into the sky, finding the fluffy white horse without too much difficulty. "Yes, I can see that. Though it could also be a squid of some sort, given how thin the legs are, don't you think?"

"God," he scoffed and shook his head. "You and your damn tentacle monsters, Lalonde."

"Oh, they're simply fascinating," she teased lightly, glancing at him with amusement flickering in her gaze. "I'm sure you'll come around sometime, Dave."

He shook his head, a bit more vehemently this time. "Yeah, no. I'll stick to swords, music, and dead things, thanks."

Rose laughed. "Do you think we could bond over _dead_ tentacle monsters then, cousin dearest?"

In answer, Dave just reached over and flicked her shoulder. "In your dreams, maybe."

She hummed and didn't reply, observing the clouds a moment longer and then turning to observe her cousin. It had been a long while since she had simply lain back and enjoyed her life with him and John and Jade—now that she thought about it, she hadn't spent too much time with any of them (well, other than John, as they'd traveled together) since meeting Roxy again. That was understandable, but she still ought to remedy it, really.

"Yo, Rose," his voice interrupted her thoughts. "So ... what do we do now?"

"You're asking me?" she inquired lightly. "I don't really know, to be honest. Dirk and Jade, and you now, I suppose, seem quite intent on just hopping around here and there and hitting little targets, most of which are easily repaired. The only one that would cause a hassle at all is the most recent one, with the information banks, but I have a feeling that one might come back to bite us in the end."

"A feeling?" Dave asked, turning his head to look at her. "As in, you're conjecturing, or you're doing the seer thing?"

Rose sighed. "I'm not entirely sure. The two sensations can be a bit blurred, sometimes. But think for a moment—do you really believe they would leave it so open for a Space mage or anyone with teleportative ability, magical or technological, to waltz in and burn everything to the ground?"

He frowned. "Well, we did just waltz in. So I guess they were being stupid fucks who assumed they had every Space mage in their College." But that look on his face told her that he was trying to convince himself, not argue.

"Don't underestimate our foe," she warned him quietly. "We did that once, and Jade paid the price."

That elicited a wince. "I know," he muttered. "She _still _has nightmares." He glanced over to the shore, where Jade and John were frolicking about in the waves; as Rose followed his gaze, Jade tackled her brother and both of them went down with a peal of laughter and a splash. "What are you saying, then?"

"I'm saying that I think they must have had wards up or _something_, and that you all managed to get through those somehow. How did you even find the location?"

Dave shrugged slightly. "Dirk said he and Jade stole some plans a while back, some maps and shit." He didn't seem too concerned with that, instead focusing on the other part of what she'd said. "How would we have gotten through wards without knowing?"

"I don't know," Rose admitted. "Then again, we really don't know anything about Jade's abilities now that they're... well, amplified, as they are. It could well be that she just smashed through without even realizing."

"Oh, shit," Dave muttered. "If she just smashed right on in, they'd know that it took a lot of power, so either they think we have an army of Space mages or we have one really strong one. Either way, that's bad. But we don't know if it's true."

"Well," Rose suggested, "we could always find out."

"How exactly do we do that now? The wards would be gone."

Rose just looked at him, waited for him to figure it out. The wards were gone _now_, but he was a Time mage...

"Oh," he said. "But I would still need to get over there and—no, we're not doing that just to check if we fucked up or not. I'm not."

"Why?" she asked—the plan in question was simply getting Jade to teleport him over to the site and then having him go back in time to check for magical wards. It would be simple. Of course, she knew why he didn't want to do it, but maybe having him say it aloud would get him to realize why his reasoning was flawed.

"I'm not asking that of her," he said, glancing at Jade and John again. "I don't wanna worry her about shit that might not even be actual worry material. She's got enough on her plate as it is."

Ah, and there it was. "Dave," she said gently, "you can't protect her forever."

He fell silent for a long moment. "I can damn well try." Unsaid were the words _I failed to protect her before_, but Rose knew him well enough to hear them anyway.

"You shouldn't," she kindly rebuked. "You can't just hide things from her to make her feel better, because sooner or later she will see those things just as clearly as everyone else, and then she will be upset not only about the thing in question but also about the fact that you kept it from her."

He didn't reply to that. Instead he went back to staring at the clouds, deep in thought; Rose didn't push the topic and let him, watching John and Jade instead. They were sitting and talking on the edge of the sea now, Jade's head on John's shoulder and his arm around her waist as the waves washed up and down, flowing over their ankles as they reclined in the warm sunlight. They both looked happy, she thought. And it was true that she didn't want to ruin that happiness, but she also knew that they couldn't afford to pretend the world wasn't still against them. They'd been doing that for a few days, and nice as it was, she was itching to get back into _doing _things.

"Think about it for a while," she suggested, drawing Dave's attention again as she rose, brushing the sandy dirt from her legs. "I'm going to go See for a little while, but you can come get me if you need anything."

"Ditto," he replied. "I'll be out here."

With a nod, Rose turned and walked back into the tent, into the small room Jade had added on for her. Sighing, she sat down on the bed and rubbed her temples before she closed her eyes, already reaching for her power in a move that felt as natural as breathing. She had work to do.

* * *

That night, at dinner, Rose waited until there was a lull in the conversation before she interrupted with a heavy heart.

"I have news," she said, "that I don't think most of us will want to hear. But we have to hear it anyway, because it is news of the important variety."

"Another trancey thing?" Roxy asked, looking over to her with raised eyebrows.

Rose nodded. "This afternoon, I went into a seer's trance again," she started. "I mostly meant to follow through on some slight suspicions I had earlier, but before I even got to those I stumbled upon something far more alarming."

"What is it?" Jade asked, eyes wide. Next to her, Dave shifted a bit closer, Rose noticed. He _really _needed to work on that overprotective streak, didn't he?

"We only have a day or so left here," Rose answered, staring over John's shoulder out at the ocean. Who knew how many leagues lay between their shore and the impending doom flying toward them? "There is a scouting party coming this way."

"What?!" Jake and Roxy both yelped at the same time. Jade just went deathly pale, while John shook his head.

"I don't understand," Jane said quietly, her eyes wide. "How did they find us?"

Dirk, next to her, silently placed a hand on her knee. She looked up at him for a second, then seemed to relax a little bit, leaning her head against his shoulder. If Rose had had to guess, she'd have said they were both thinking about being one-upped and found last time. Her gaze flickered to Jade again, concerned—Dirk and Jane weren't the only ones thinking about that.

"I don't know for sure," she admitted, not wanting to add her conjecture that it had to do with Dirk and Jade's missions. She wasn't about to say something to send Jade into a spiral of self-blame; they could have that conversation later, when her friend didn't look so fragile. "But they are coming, and they have magic damping. We have an advantage until they get here, but when they do, we won't have anywhere to run, and trust me, there are enough of them that standing to fight is not an option."

"What do you think we should do, then?" Dirk asked, looking around at each of them individually. No one said anything just yet. Rose took a deep breath. "Do you have any other information to tell us about that?"

She blinked. "I think we need to flee somewhere, if that wasn't obvious."

"No, no, no, _no_," Jade interrupted, burying her face in her hands for a moment before she raised her head and looked up desperately. "Rose, how did they find us? You have to know _something_, please. How did they find us?"

Rose bit her lip. "I don't know for sure, but I think they might have ... well, they might have tracked where the person who broke the wards on the information vault went, or maybe they had tracking spells in the Mages' College."

She watched Jade's face go from stunned to upset to horrified. "You mean—oh my god," she breathed, and then she jumped up and ran into the night, distraught.

"Jade!" John cried, already getting to his feet, but Rose stopped him and Dave with a shake of her head.

"You all can figure out where the best place to go is without my help," she said, "but if you need my input, I think Prospit. Now I'll take care of Jade, you all can talk this out."

Then she took off at a sprint, following Jade's footprints in the sand down to the sea and down the beach, all the way to the foot of the seaside cliffs. There she found Jade sitting in the water, knees tucked to her chest and her shoulders hunched. She was trembling.

With no further ado, Rose slipped her shoes off and waded into the lagoon, sitting down next to Jade and wrapping her arms around her soothingly. It was too bad she hadn't brought towels or anything—they would be soaked all along the walk back to camp—but that was just a minor inconvenience, she supposed.

"I did this," Jade breathed. "I wasn't being careful enough, I wasn't thinking, I was just too sure I was strong enough for once, it's all—it's all my fault—"

"No," Rose shook her head. "It's not. You are no more at fault than Dirk or Dave or Jake is. You are no more at fault than I am for not seeing it sooner!" She tightened her arms around the smaller girl, relieved when Jade let out a shuddering sigh and slumped against her. The lukewarm water swirled around them.

"It's my fault," Jade repeated, burying her face in Rose's shoulder. "If I had just—just thought, this wouldn't be happening!"

Rose stroked a soothing hand through her dark hair. "Shhh," she murmured. "It's not your fault. You didn't know, and you were doing the best you could. Don't blame yourself for any of this. You aren't the one chasing us down, Jade. That's the Empress."

Maybe Jade had chosen to sit out here because she could pretend any liquid drops on her face were sea spray. Rose wouldn't point them out, but she did gently wipe them away. "I did this to us again," Jade whispered. "It's all because of me _again_."

"Oh, Jade," Rose hugged her tightly, resting her cheek against the other girl's hair. "It was never your fault. And we will always stand by you, no matter what happens."

Jade trembled, whether from holding in tears or from sitting in the eddies of cooling water, Rose wasn't sure. But from the way she leaned into her almost desperately, Rose knew she wasn't letting go anytime soon.

"Remember what you told me when I was blaming myself for my mother's death?" she said quietly, her voice a bare murmur. "When I was upset that I didn't think to see it coming?"

Jade didn't respond, but Rose knew she was listening, so she forged on.

"You told me I couldn't blame myself because I didn't kill her. It was the Empress. And we agreed to pin it all on the Empress. Jade, this is no different. You are not at fault for anything that might be coming. We'll be _fine_, and we will all stay with you. We all love you. _I _love you."

"We were all so happy a few minutes ago," Jade shook her head slightly. "And now everyone is worried. And it's because—"

"—of the Batterwitch," Rose smoothly interrupted. "Everyone will be worried, but we'll also all be happy because we're all together again, and that is thanks to you, you know."

Jade took a deep, shaky breath. "I'm sorry," she said with a little self-depreciating laugh. "I shouldn't have just run like that, I'm sure you needed to be back at camp, and I really should have just stayed there. I just freaked out, I guess..."

"Understandably," Rose assured her. "Stop apologizing, though, when you haven't done anything wrong!"

That elicited a watery giggle. "I always do that, don't I?"

She nodded, immensely relieved to hear that giggle. She wouldn't say it aloud, but she worried for Jade a lot, especially in these moods. "You had to stop yourself before apologizing to me again just now, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Jade admitted. Rose could hear the smile in her voice and relaxed a bit.

They sat out in the waves under the moonlight a few moments longer, when Rose finally had to admit that her legs were getting tired and cold. "Shall we head back to camp?" she asked.

Jade nodded, raising her head. "Yeah," she said. "We can do that."

"Good," Rose smiled, planting a kiss to her cheek. "Come on then," and she stood, water dripping from her clothes, and offered her hand to Jade, pulling the other girl to her feet.

Jade caught her hand and held it, not letting Rose pull away. "Rose," she said, not looking away or continuing until their gazes met. "Thank you."

Rose hugged her again. "Anytime," she said warmly, thinking of the many times over the years that Jade had held and comforted her. "I'm glad to see you smiling again."

Jade smiled slightly at that. "Love you," she said as they started to walk hand-in-hand. "Where do you think we need to go?"

"I'm not entirely certain, but I'm thinking Prospit," Rose answered simply. "Or, rather, the Prospit-Derse Dual Monarchy. I think we have a better chance of getting in through Derse, as we can just pay them off so they don't look too closely into where the four of us came from, but Prospit is generally better about dealing with refugees, and we can figure out where to go from there."

"Hmm." Jade didn't reply, but that was alright. Rose held her hand as they walked together, under the stars, back to the warm glow of the place that had once again become home.

* * *

_AN: Ah yes, weekends, when I spend the entire 48 hours saying "Wow, look at all this time I have to write", and then never write a word until Sunday evening. Good ol' weekends._

_And like promised, back to plot a bit here! Things are starting to move along again. We'll see where they end up, I suppose!_

_Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing :D you are the wind beneath my authorial wings!_


	56. Chapter 56: Jade - Flight II

That night, after everyone packed their things and disbanded to go to bed, Jade remained outside, under the stars, and felt the wind blowing through her just-washed hair. She wasn't ready to go inside, not yet, not while her thoughts were still a bit unstable. At least she could recognize that in herself now, right? That was a good thing, unless it was just sad that she'd been like this long enough that she could tell when she was going to be a mess.

It was just so annoying and awful! It had been so long since she'd left the magical prison in the other universe! Why did it still hurt her this much?

"Jade?"

She turned, the wind whipping her hair around her face, to see John standing at the entrance of the tent. "Hi," she greeted with a soft smile.

He walked forward, dropping the tent flap and approaching her with concern written on his face. "Why aren't you going to bed?" he asked, taking her hand. "We're gonna be getting up really early, you know."

"I know," she said. They would have to rise before the sun in order to flee the island with time to spare before the Imperial scouting party arrived. Dirk had suggested leaving immediately, but Jade had really wanted just one more night here, in the one place that felt of home. "I just ... I can't go inside yet, that's all."

"You can't?" John asked, his thumb stroking over hers. "I'll stay out here with you, then."

Jade gave him a sidelong look and a weary smile. "There's no point in telling you to go to bed because I'll be fine by morning, is there?" she asked, shifting closer as she spoke because she already knew the answer.

"None at all," John agreed, plopping down in the sand and tugging her down beside him. "We can just sit out here like we used to. Remember?"

The memories were hazy at best—she had been a year younger than him, and both of them had been very young when they left the island—but they were there. "I could never forget," she answered, a soft smile curving her lips. "We used to stargaze!"

"Yup," he agreed. "And we'd stay out late—well, I guess it was late for us back then, but it was like barely an hour or two past sundown, really—and sit out here with Grandpa."

"And Nanna would come out with hot chocolate or tea or something and sit with us and tell us stories," she recalled, staring out to sea without seeing as she let her mind wander in fond reminiscence. If she closed her eyes, she could almost smell the warm steam and the freshly-made sweets that usually went with them. "Those were good days."

"Yeah, they were," John nodded slowly. "I miss them, you know? Not just Nanna and Grandpa, but the way everything was back then." He looked up at the starry sky thoughtfully, then wrapped his arm around his sister. "What's bothering you?"

She shifted and heaved a sigh, brushing her still-damp hair over her shoulder. "I'm just thinking," she answered, "thinking of things I really shouldn't be thinking about. Things that I should have left in the other universe, but that somehow reach from there to here and _still _bother me."

"Ah," he said. "Which things?"

"The dark ones, and the fire ones," she said, laying her head on his shoulder. "It's been a long time since I had a nightmare about the fire, but I had one yesterday, about how—when I looked in the kitchen window—" she broke off and swallowed hard, knowing that she didn't need to say more and not wanting to say that she'd seen Nanna's charred body in the flaming wreck and ruin. She'd been the only one who had actually _seen _it, the one who had fled to the Strider apartment to call John and Rose, who had still been at school working on a project. No one else had had that image seared into their eyes and their memory.

John hugged her close, resting his chin atop her head for a moment. "Oh, Jade..." he said quietly. "I'm sorry. Nightmares are awful, and—"

"And it went from that one straight into the other ones," she added, aware that her voice was quivering now but unable to stop it from doing that, even as she found herself wondering what kind of nightmares John had been having. "I don't know how no one woke up, honestly!"

"Me neither," he said regretfully, rubbing her shoulder. "Next time, if I don't wake up, you come wake me up, 'kay?"

Jade nodded against him. "Yeah," she said quietly. It was like admitting defeat, but she was worn enough to concede that she couldn't cope with this alone. She might be stubborn and hold out more with Rose and Dave, but she couldn't really hide her not-okayness from her own brother. "I'll do that."

"Good," he smiled.

"What about you?" she wanted to know, turning her face up to look him in the eye. "Are you okay? And no beating around the bush or pretending, mister! Those are my things and believe me, I know how to spot them!"

John chuckled at that, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Jade eyed him suspiciously, because that gesture said clear as day that he had definitely been about to try her usual methods on her. Silly John. "I mean... I'm doing okay, yeah. Could be better, could be worse, you know?" he shrugged once. "But I'm managing. Don't worry about me, Jade."

"I'll stop worrying about you when you stop worrying about me," she retorted, looking up at him with a slight frown. Then she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his shoulder and smiling softly as he laid his cheek against her hair with a soft sigh. Whether she wanted to smack him for not caring about himself or not, she couldn't stay annoyed with him in the slightest when he held her, because, oh, John felt like home.

He pulled away suddenly. "Wait! Oh man, I totally forgot I even had this. It's yours, I keep meaning to give it back to you, and then I forget."

"What?" she blinked, surprised, as he reached under his collar to produce a pendant, the green wire-wrapped stone that had been a birthday present from Dave years upon years ago. "Oh! I thought I'd _lost _that," she breathed, eyes widening.

"You fell asleep with it on the night they attacked," John explained, gesturing for her to turn around. "So I took it off and put it in my pocket to give you in the morning, because it got tangled in your hair when you fell asleep wearing it a while back." As she shifted her hair so he could fasten it easily, Jade laughed softly, remembering that morning all too well.

It settled onto her chest, a familiar touch. She reached up and gently brushed her fingers over the worn, well-known surface, feeling the smooth stone and wire again. It was wonderful to have it back. That necklace was one she had clung to as her connection to the outside world and to hope in the darkest of hours, and it was just a comfort to have around her neck at all times.

"Thanks for keeping it safe for me." She turned back around and hugged John again.

He grinned down at her and kissed the top of her head. "No problem."

Somehow, Jade thought, she was feeling a lot better already. Maybe it was John's presence, maybe it was having the pendant back, maybe it was both. Either way, she didn't feel quite like she was drowning anymore. That was good.

"Do you want to go in and sleep now?" John asked, looking at her inquisitively. "It's late, and we both do need to sleep."

If he had been anyone other than John, she might have quickly apologized, saying _oh I'm sorry, go on, you need to sleep! I shouldn't have kept you awake!_ But it was John, and she wouldn't say that to him. "Yeah, I think so," she said instead, nodding slightly. "I guess I am kind of tired."

"You can sleep in my room," he suggested as he stood, pulling her to her feet. "Or I can sleep in yours. Basically, just humor me and let me be a clingy brother, okay?"

That actually made her laugh, the tears from earlier almost all but forgotten. John always knew how to make her laugh again, didn't he? "Oh, of course," she said, squeezing his hand as they walked back to the tent. "I'll come sleep in your room."

"Great," he said, holding the tent flap open so she could duck under his arm and enter. It was stiflingly dark for a moment, and her mind flashed back to other stiflingly dark places, but then John's hand was in hers and the dark didn't seem so bad. "Man, I should have brought a light," he muttered, slowly edging around the furniture as they both stumbled their way to his room.

When they were inside, Jade found the little light that they kept for navigating in the dark and flicked it on its lowest setting—she couldn't sleep in the absolute darkness, there was no way—and clambered into bed. John followed, and she snuggled against him. There, feeling safe and sound in the arms of her brother, Jade fell asleep with not a single nightmare.

* * *

In the morning, a scant few hours later, Roxy appeared and gently shook Jade awake. "Hey," she said, leaning down over the two of them. "Time to get up, we've gotta eat and leave soon."

Jade blinked a few times drowsily, not wanting to move. She buried her face in John's neck for a moment until Roxy's words registered and she sighed, looking up. "Is it really time already?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"No," John mumbled. "It's not. Go back to sleep."

Roxy laughed and unceremoniously yanked the blanket away from both of them. "I'm afraid it is!" she said as they both made sounds of protest and clung to each other for warmth. "Oh my god, you guys are too cute. But you still have to get up!"

With that, she left, leaving the door open behind her. It was still dark, save for the few lights rigged to light the tent to make it easier to walk about, and Jade really wanted to curl back up against John and pull the blanket back up and sleep. That way, she could pretend the huge sense of impending doom resting in her core wasn't growing.

With a groan, John sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily. Reluctantly Jade sat up too, looking to the nightstand for her glasses; when they were on, she reached up and smoothed John's hair down into a somewhat tamer form. They both got out of bed and stretched, then walked out of the room.

After freshening up, Jade walked outside to see Rose, Roxy, Jane, Jake, and Dirk waiting. John was still getting dressed, but he would be out in just a second.

Rose looked over to her with a smile, the golden ruby glow of the small fire over which they were cooking a hasty breakfast reflected on her face. "Good morning," she said warmly. "Is John up?"

"Yeah, he's getting ready," Jade replied, stepping close enough to warm her hands over the flames. It wasn't cold, really, but there was a slight chill in the night, and more than that the light and warmth felt comforting against the fears gnawing at her insides. "Where's Dave?"

"Probably fell asleep again," Roxy snorted. "Someone should probably go check on him."

"Or you could always just shrink the tent and carry it with him inside," Jake joked, grinning wryly. Jade shook her head, laughing, and glanced back over her shoulder at the tent.

"I guess I'll go get him," she said, turning on her heel. He needed to get up, they had to _go_ soon! She was getting jittery, her tiredness falling from her body to be replaced by nerves. They couldn't be around when the Condesce's scouts got here, and that would be soon, very soon. Those ships flew very, very fast.

She passed John as she walked back into the tent, ducking into the flap just as he was about to come out. He didn't question her, just stepped aside and let her through, and walked outside, and she went to Dave's room.

He was awake, just sitting on his bed staring at the wall. When Jade entered, he looked up, giving her a wan smile and patting the space beside him.

"Hey."

"Don't you want to eat?" she asked, even as she sat down next to him and took his hand, intertwining their fingers. "Breakfast is just about ready."

"I'll grab something in a minute," he shrugged, then looked at her. "I was just sitting and thinking for a bit." Something in his expression made her wonder for a moment, but then it vanished, and she found that she wasn't really sure what she had been wondering, anyway. She shrugged it off and lightly traced her thumb over his knuckles; his hand was warmer than hers.

"Thinking about what?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "Are you alright?"

"Thinking about you," he answered, and she stiffened in surprise. "Are _you _alright? With all this shit going on, and leaving, and everything else—you ran off last night. Are you okay?"

Jade bit her lip and tried to find words that wouldn't be a blatant lie, but that wouldn't make him worry, either. It was always a tightrope she had to walk, not wanting to worry her friends, but needing to make her okay-ness seem believable. Apparently, Dave wasn't falling for it this time.

"I take that as a no," he said, squeezing her hand. "What's up?"

She shrugged listlessly. "I'm just ... I don't know, Dave, I can't believe this is happening again," she finally admitted, biting her lip. He lightly elbowed her side.

"Stop that."

"Sorry." She nearly bit her lip again, then quickly stopped herself.

This time his finger teasingly jabbed her side, and she yelped and jumped away because god _dammit _Dave, that's just where she was ticklish! "None of the apologies, either," he warned, then slid his arm around her waist. "Keep talking."

She huffed at him, then softened, trying to find the right words. "What am I supposed to say? I'm just disappointed in this, in us—I'm disappointed in _me_, Dave, because no matter what you or Rose or anyone says, this is my fault all over again and we're running again and we're seriously, honestly thinking about leaving the planet, and I'm just so, so—_sick _of it! I'm sick of running!" There! The words spilled out, they were said. Let him do with them what he would! She sat there, swallowed hard to keep the tears threatening to fall from spilling out with the words. She would not cry. She would _not_.

Dave was silent for a second. "That sounds like what you were supposed to say, yeah," he finally told her, keeping his arm firmly about her waist. "C'mere." And then he pulled her close, let her rest her head in the crook of his neck and held her tightly. "We won't be running forever."

"How do you know?" she asked plaintively, her voice muffled. "How do you _know_?"

"Well," he said, "aside from the fact that as a Time mage I have some knowledge about future stuff, I have a pretty good feeling that we won't. Maybe we'll have to leave this shitty planet, but come on, Jade, Skaia's never been that good to any of us. So long as we're together, does it really matter where we are?"

She shook her head, staying silent. That was true, at least; as much as she wanted to call the planet home, she couldn't deny that Skaia had never been what a home should have been for long. It had started out like that, but things had fallen apart, and they probably would never fall back into place.

"Maybe going to Prospit-Derse will be just what we need to stop running," he continued, stroking her back. "Maybe we can make a new home there. Who knows?"

"I just want a home again," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper or a soft confession. "I want to feel safe again."

Something about those words struck a chord with him. His arms tightened around her. "Jade. Look at me."

She raised her head and looked up at him, at his serious crimson eyes and the hard set of his jaw, at the intent expression with which he regarded her. As she watched, he softened ever so slightly, one of his hands coming up to cup her cheek. She leaned into his touch.

"You are safe now," he said. "You're safe. I swear, I will protect you, and I swear to you that I won't let anything happen to you ever again. You're safe."

Jade's eyes widened for just a moment. Then she lunged forward and flung her arms around his neck, pressing him close to her and thinking of how silly it was that their childhood games always involved him trying to be a knight in shining armor, wanting to protect her, as she dismissed that and wandered off in search of cool bugs. Oh, how the times had changed!

"You're safe," he repeated softly, rubbing her back. "Even if we have to keep running, I will keep you safe. Nothing will hurt you now."

"I love you," she murmured back, the words simply serving as another way to tell him that she loved him. "You're amazing. Thank you."

"Not as amazing as you," he answered simply. Jade felt a little thrill run through her with those words, burying her face in his neck for a moment. Oh, how lucky she was to have him in her life, really, even if he didn't love her back the same way she loved him. She knew he loved her, and that would be enough.

"Dave? Jade?" Dirk's voice called. "Are you both in here?"

"We're in here," Dave called back, giving Jade one final squeeze before he withdrew from her, his eyes lingering on her for a long moment as if to make sure she truly was alright. "Coming, bro."

"Cool," Dirk said, appearing in the doorway. "Food's ready and getting cold, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that we've gotta get a move on."

"No," Jade agreed, slowly disentangling herself from Dave, "you don't."

The three of them walked out of the tent and onto the beach again, under the dark sky that still glimmered with stars. Jane handed Dave and Jade two plates of toasted bread and jam and fresh fruit, and together the eight of them finished their breakfast.

After eating, Jade looked at the campsite. She looked around at the ocean, at the familiar dark mountainside blotting out part of the sky, at the trees carpeting its slopes and marching down to the cliffs, at the path leading up into the forest. She took it all in, and then, aware that everyone's eyes were on her, took a deep breath.

"Goodbye, island," she told her old home, again—she had a feeling she wouldn't be coming back here anytime soon—and then she reached for a bit of her power, wrapped it around everything and everyone that she needed to move, and leaped.

* * *

_AN: Prospit babieeessss :D_

_"Home" by Vanessa Carlton is the Jade and John sibling feels anthem. Seriously, give it a listen, it's so them it hurts in the best of ways!_

_Alright so I'm really trying to churn these last few chapters out, but AP testing starts for me this Wednesday, so I don't know whether I will be sticking to the update schedule for this week. I'm gonna try, but no promises! _

_Thank you for reading, and thank you especially to my reviewers. You are my motivation to keep writing like there's no tomorrow! :)_


	57. Chapter 57: Roxy - Pondering Farewells

They landed in a forest, a hushed place still under the cover of darkness. The sea was nowhere nearby; Roxy found she missed the soft crash of the waves on the shore almost immediately. The tent and all the luggage, neatly compartmentalized and boxed up to make it easier on Jade, appeared a second later, settled under a few trees. Jake immediately started to walk toward the entrance and his bed, clearly still exhausted.

"Hold on," Jade cautioned, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let me just check the spell before you go in! It might have messed up a bit when we jumped, I don't know."

She stepped forward, ran fingers coated in green sparks over the entrance, stuck her head in. Then she vanished inside, the flap swinging closed behind her, and left the other seven of them waiting under the tree canopy. Roxy shifted her weight from leg to leg and then finally sighed, plopping down on the ground. Jane followed suit, and Roxy flopped over backwards to lie there on the forest floor with her head in the other girl's lap. Now that they'd gone and actually done the move, the nervous energy that had been keeping her awake was rapidly draining away into sleepiness again.

"Roxy," Jane chided lightly, "you're going to get leaves and mud all over yourself!"

"Meh," Roxy shrugged. "I'll worry about that after I'm more awake. Someone wake me up when Jade gets back here and gives us the all clear, I'm going the heck to sleep!"

"Now that we're not on the island anymore," Rose interrupted, her voice quiet but firm, "we should set up watch. Not all of us should go to bed just yet."

"Should we do pairs?" John asked, turning to her and then looking at the rest of them inquisitively. "That way, no one will accidentally fall asleep on duty, because someone else will be awake to keep them up too!"

Roxy nodded reasonably, even though no one but Jane was looking at her as she lay on the ground. "Sure," she said, "but I'm not up for first."

"I can take first with someone," Rose said. "I'm not too tired yet."

"I'll stay up with you," John offered, and Roxy looked over at him. Wasn't he tired? How was he not tired? She was so, so tired. John made no sense. Rose made no sense. Why did no one here make sense?

Rose gave him a slight smile and a nod. "Alright," she said. "We can sort out what we need to unpack in the morning, I suppose."

"Yeah," Dave agreed. "Not doing that now, thanks." He glanced toward the tent then, and Roxy followed his gaze to see Jade poke her head out.

"It's all good," the Space girl said, beckoning the group. "You can come in now, go back to bed and everything. Jeez, you lot look exhausted!"

"Diiiirk," Roxy called, holding out her arms as he started to walk past. He paused, turned to look down at her, and then sighed, shaking his head as he he grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet, then pulled Jane up, too. Roxy gave him a tired grin. "Thanks."

"Go to bed," was his reply. "You're half asleep on your feet, Rox."

"Oh, I know," she said with the kind of slurred cheer that comes from a complete loss of adrenaline and its replacement with melatonin, which is to say that she was tired as heck. Why was she thinking about hormonal biology? Instead of her pillow inside? Her nice, cozy pillow and blanket and bed, inside that tent?

She was scarcely aware of drifting inside, blearily stumbling to her room and collapsing on the blissfully soft bedding, and she was asleep almost the instant her head hit the pillow.

In the morning, she rose and stretched, noting that somehow, Jade had put windows in the tent that allowed sunlight to stream in. That was a great idea—she stood on her bed and peered outside to see the forest, but not from where she might have expected to be. Instead, it was as though she was a good bit higher up, looking down on their campsite from a few meters in the air. Huh. ...Space was weird.

_Right, _Roxy told herself. _You'd better not break that window, Lalonde, and for goodness's sake don't try to climb through it ever! _There was no telling what that would do. Maybe she should ask Jade, just to satisfy her own curiosity. But yeah, experimenting was probably not the best idea she could have here.

Once she had freshened herself up, she walked out of the tent to find Jane and Jake sitting together on a fallen log, intent in their conversation. So intent, in fact, that neither of them had noticed her exit from the tent, so she grinned to herself and crept over behind the two of them, taking just a moment to gleefully observe before she slung her arms around their waists and trilled "Good morning!"

Both jumped, startled, as Roxy burst into laughter, plopping down between them and ruffling their hair affectionately. Oh, she had _so _gotten them! They should have seen their own faces!

"Good lord!" Jake exclaimed as he settled down like a bird with ruffled feathers situating itself back into its cozy nest. "Roxy!"

"Gosh _dang _it, Roxy!" Jane scolded, her hand falling from her heart where it had leapt in shock back down to her lap. "Was that really necessary?"

"Absolutely," Roxy told her, beaming, and smooched her cheek affectionately. Then she looked up at Jake and repeated the gesture, squeezing both of them close. "And how are my two darlings doing this fine morning, hm?"

"Aside from nearly jumping out of their skins thanks to your greetings, quite well, I would say," Jake replied, amused. But Jane made a sound of disapproval and reached around Roxy to lightly thump his shoulder.

"Jake," she chided gently. "'Quite well' is not what you were just telling me."

Roxy whipped her head around to scrutinize him, trying to pinpoint what might have kept him from actually being "quite well". Was he alright? Was he sad? She would definitely understand him being sad. "Are you okay, Jake?"

He shrugged slightly, dismissively, and looked up at the tree canopy above them, shining softly with dappled sunbeams. The forest definitely was peaceful, especially in the early morning light, when the only sounds were those of the gentle breeze in the trees and the sweet, distant chatter of birdsong that punctuated the silence until he finally spoke. "I'm fine, really. It's nothing major."

"Jake," Jane frowned again. "Stop that."

"Now really," Roxy added, concern mounting. "What's wrong?"

"He's upset about something," Jane told her, pursing her lips, "but he hasn't told me what." Both of them turned to Jake, waiting expectantly.

Jake sighed. "Nothing out of the ordinary," he started, holding up one hand to preemptively stall the protests they were both about to make. "Let me continue before you say anything! It's just that ... you've all been doing so much, you've all been _through _so much, and what have I got to show for all that time? Nothing. I've just been sitting on my ass back in the Imperial City acting like everything is fine and doing nothing other than going out and painting messages on walls sometimes! And it just, well, it just seems to me sometimes that you—"

He cut himself off abruptly, clamping his lips together and staring resolutely at a tree. Roxy looked at him with concern knitting her brows together, waiting, until it became obvious that he wasn't going to keep going, instead just shaking his head slightly. "Jake," she said softly. "It seems that we what?"

"That you don't... that you don't really need me," he said, his voice smaller than ever as he hunched his shoulders to make himself small to match. Roxy immediately shook her head and let go of Jane to fling her arms around him, letting out a wordless wail that essentially amounted to _no!_ Because how could he ever, ever think that?

Jane stood and hurried around to Jake's other side, one arm wrapping around his shoulders as her other hand came to rest on his cheek. "Jake," she said. "Don't you ever, _ever_ tell yourself that we don't need you."

"You're our best friend," Roxy added, pressing her forehead to his shoulder for a moment. This was not what she had expected to be dealing with when she had walked outside into the beautiful forest, but that was okay. She would take care of her friends like they always took care of her. "And what you've been doing is so, so important. Hell, Jakey, you've been doing way more than Dave or I have!"

He shook his head again. "No, I really haven't," he mumbled. "You were both in new places, trying to figure out new things, and I was stuck in the same old, same old. Do you know, I went about my day to day life as if the biggest problem I had with the bombings was that I had a longer distance to walk to work!"

"That wasn't your fault," Jane objected, stamping her foot slightly. "You had to keep your cover up to keep yourself safe! Don't think that you aren't good enough for us, whatever that means, just because you had some sense and didn't keep trying to get yourself killed. If John and Rose hadn't kept me in line, I would have marched right on into some city or other and tried to do _something_, you know? And it would have been the end of me. I was being stupid, you were being smart."

"Dirk always said I was living on a fool's hope," Jake muttered. Roxy's eyebrows shot up.

"Well," she said emphatically, "I will have to go talk to Dirk about that. But you're our best friend, we love you, and we need you and we want you around! Okay?"

Jake bit his lip. "Okay."

"Good." Jane hugged him, kneeling in the grass, and held on for a few long moments. Roxy wrapped her arms around both of them and kissed Jake's hair.

At the sound of more voices behind them, the three shifted and withdrew from each other a bit, still close. Roxy twisted around to see Jade and Rose exiting the tent hand in hand, smiling, and called a greeting to them.

"Good morning!"

"Morning, everyone!" Jade chirped back as Rose waved, both walking over. They sat down, Rose elegantly crossing her legs and leaning on one arm as she perched on the log, and Jade dropping to the grass next to Jane. "How are you guys?"

"Not too shabby," Jake said, looking at Roxy and Jane with a little grin before he returned his attention to his grandmother-slash-granddaughter. Sheesh, that one really needed a better portmanteau. Daughtermom flowed off the tongue so much more nicely.

Speaking of daughtermoms... Roxy turned to look at Rose brightly, swaying slightly to the rhythm of a song in her mind. "So," she said cheerfully. "What all's on the agenda today, Rose?"

Rose smiled back, leaning forward to smooth some errant hair down from Roxy's head. She stayed still as the other girl's long fingers stroked the unruly strands into place, trying to ignore the thrill that it sent through her because _mom mom mom!_ (Maybe she got a bit too excited even now that she had her mother again, even if Rose wasn't exactly Rose Lalonde as Roxy knew her, but still. Mom!)

"Well," Rose said, "For now, we are relatively safe. We need to figure a few things out before we finalize our plans and move on."

Next to her, Roxy noticed Jade's cheery demeanor fading away like water slowly drains from a tub once the drain is opened. She wondered why, and filed that question away to ask later.

"What things would those be?" Jane inquired, beating Roxy to her next query.

Rose sighed, the light dancing behind her eyes dimming a bit too. She looked older, more serious—more like Actual Dead Mom Rose than Alternate Universe Alive Not-Mom Rose, Roxy thought—as she considered, counting mysteries off on her fingers. "The most important one," she said finally, "is finding ourselves a good spaceport from which to gain passage to Derse."

"I can help you with that," Roxy offered. "Poli-sci studies and all that. I have a bit of knowledge about geography and all, ya know?" When that elicited a slight chuckle from most people in the group, she continued. "We can get out some maps and look at stuff."

"Yeah," Jade nodded, still seeming strangely subdued. "We don't have to worry about how far away it is, either, just which one is safest and where we can get passage most easily, stuff like that."

"And money," Rose added, and Roxy couldn't help but snort.

"Mom," she said, "I guess you must have forgotten who you've got sitting right here, huh?" As she spoke, she held out one hand, palm facing skyward, and willed a few coins into existence, wiggling her fingers. The coins clinked together quietly as Roxy grinned. "Money really isn't a concern. I can do credits too, whatever we've gotta get to float this boat."

Jade was staring at the coins with a very odd look on her face. Then she stood. "I'll, um... go see if John's awake," she said, and then hurried back into the tent. The rest of them watched her go.

"Is she alright?" Jake asked, looking up at Rose.

The seer just sighed and didn't answer.

* * *

That evening, Roxy sat outside near the campfire, moodily pushing her dinner around her plate and mulling over the day's events. She still could hardly believe it...

Staring into the fire, she recalled the visit to Ensypi, the trip into the past. Dave and Jade had both come to facilitate that, but Roxy had been alone when she knocked on Irsa's door, when she rushed into the shop to talk to Gaen. Dave had parted from them to go talk to some of his friends and acquaintances, too, and when he had come back—quickly, of course, now that he was using his powers to manipulate time for them anyway—he and Jade waited for Roxy to finish talking, and then the three of them had come back to camp in the present.

Weeks ago, for Gaen and Irsa anyway, they had seen the last they would ever see of Roxanne Marlonde. She hadn't found the courage to tell them the truth about the Lalonde family name, in the end.

"Hey."

Dave dropped down beside her, making himself quite at home in the grass next to her. He studied her for a moment, taking a sip of his fruit juice, and then raised an eyebrow.

"You've been mighty quiet since we got back," he observed, resting his chin on his hand. "What's on your mind?"

"We're actually _leaving_," Roxy answered. "I dunno, it never really sunk in til now for whatever reason. But we're leaving Skaia. Like ... leaving the City was bad enough, you know? There was so much I was leaving behind and I didn't know where we were going, but there was some familiar stuff. And now we're going totally into the unknown. It's ... it's something. Scary, kinda."

Dave considered those words for a few seconds, weighing them and turning them over in his mind—she could see the cogs turning in his eyes—several times before he answered. "Yeah, it is. But what's that bullshit about going into the unknown, no familiar stuff at all? C'mon, Rox. This time, the people will be familiar and the place will be weird as fuck."

"Oh, are you saying the people were weird as fuck last time?" she teased slightly, letting a wan smile flicker across her face before it faded again. "I guess you're right, but ... it just seems like it's a huge deal and no one has noticed it's huge, and it's weird."

"Oh, trust me. Some people have noticed." Roxy looked up, surprised by the darker undertone in his voice—it was a bit more defensive, a bit more fiercely protective—and followed his gaze. Somehow, she was not surprised at all to find that he was looking at Jade, who was sitting alone, her back to the fire. There was a pause before he added, "The rest will, sooner or later. Trust me."

She didn't reply, and soon after that he stood and walked away, going to find Rose or Dirk, probably. Roxy looked over at Jade again, and after a moment she pushed herself to her feet and ambled over to join the other girl.

"Yo," she greeted, sitting next to her and bumping her shoulder. Jade looked over, offering a wan smile.

"Hi," she said. "Need something?"

Ah, those were definitely key words that told her that Jade was upset about something. The words "need something" usually meant that the person saying them was assuming that no one wanted their company save for whatever usefulness they had.

Well, Roxy resolved, she would just have to cheer her up, if she wasn't willing to spill the beans just yet, which, she would have to guess, she wasn't.

So she nudged Jade again, waggling her eyebrows as outrageously as she could. "Soooo," she started, leaning over. "He totally is head over heels for you."

"What?"

"Dave!" Roxy exclaimed. Was she _really _this oblivious? Come on, Jade. "He is so into you. Don't tell me you don't see it, Jade Harley!"

"I—you—wait, _what_?" Jade backpedaled, her eyes going wide. Did that count as a success for getting her mind off of whatever made her sad? Roxy figured it did, she looked more flabbergasted than sorrowing now.

Chalk one up for the Roxy Lalonde Sad Diversions team, which consisted entirely of Roxy Lalonde! "I said, Dave is _totally_ head over heels for you," she repeated, grinning like a cat with the cream. It was too bad Dave had made her promise not to breathe a word to anyone when he'd confessed to her that he was actually very much head over heels for Jade, really, because then this could be over fast. Hell, it might have already been over!

"No, he isn't," Jade shook her head quickly, seeming very unconvinced and very flustered. Roxy grinned some more, deciding to press her advantage even as Jade forged on. "He's just a sweetheart in general!"

"Honey," Roxy leveled a suddenly skeptical look at the other girl, "he has an overprotective streak a mile wide when you're around. And he can sort of be a dick to everyone else."

Jade opened her mouth—Roxy would have bet she had been about to say _he's a dick to me too_, except that she'd realized that went against her own argument—and closed it again. "Well he's always been like that," she tried again, continuing to pull fake justifications out of thin air. "He's got his own way of being a sweetheart, how's that?"

"Oh, sure, if you really wanna keep telling yourself that," Roxy teased, ruffling her hair playfully and laughing as Jade ducked away. "What about you though? You're totally into him too, aren't you?"

Jade stared fixedly at a knot in a nearby tree, her cheeks flushing with warmth that Roxy could see even though their backs were to the fire. "I—um. Maybe? Kind of? I ... is it _that _obvious?"

"A little bit," Roxy admitted. "To everyone but you and him, which means..."

"You can't tell him!" Jade immediately whipped around to say. Roxy internally groaned, because first Dave had said she couldn't tell Jade, and now Jade was saying she couldn't tell Dave? They were going to make her life difficult!

"Okay, okay! I won't," she promised, shaking her head and trying not to laugh. She had to get Jake in on this, he would love seeing one of his silly movies unfold in real life right before his eyes! And maybe that was something she could use to get his mind away from sad thoughts and questioning whether they wanted him around—what a stupid question, of _course _they wanted him—onto silly and fun things, like his grandmother's love life.

"Jeez," Jade shook her head, relaxing a bit again. She fell silent for a moment, her smile fading, and then turned back to Roxy. "What even brought this whole thing on, anyway?"

God dammit, so much for the distraction idea. Roxy sighed, dropping the Dave topic for now, and draped an arm about Jade's shoulders. "You looked sad," she said, "and I wanted to give you something to smile about."

"Oh," Jade said, leaning against her and nestling her head in the crook of her shoulder. "That was nice of you. You didn't have to do it, I would have been fine!"

"Hey now," Roxy cautioned. "You're on shaky ground here, missy, with all this 'I'll be fine' and 'it's nothing' business. Sheesh, between all the members of your family you'd think _someone _would figure out that there is no point in pretending you're fine when I'm around. I wil sleuth you out so hard, you don't even know. Anyway, what are friends for?"

"Assaulting each other to discuss forlorn love lives?" Jade suggested, laughing softly, and Roxy nodded.

"That's exactly it," she said. "And destroying illusions that we're good at keeping painful secrets from each other."

Jade sighed. "I don't have the words to express whatever I'm thinking right now," she said, looking up at Roxy with a plaintive, honest expression. "I would tell you if I did, but I don't."

Roxy knew the feeling of not having words. "That's okay," she said. "We can worry about it later. Just stop covering it up, and we'll be just fine, alright?"

"Yeah," the smaller girl agreed. God, though, Roxy thought, she really looked like Jane when she smiled—it was the little soft smile that sealed the deal. But she had Jake's eyes. "I'm just sad. But it's fine—I mean, it's gonna be okay. Later."

"Better," Roxy agreed. "We'll get you to stop pretending you're fine, eventually! For now, whaddya say we sit out here and stare at what stars we can see through the trees and just chat? We can discuss your forlorn love life some more," she suggested, laughing, as Jade blushed.

"Sitting out here sounds nice," Jade agreed. "I'm kinda tired, though, so we can go inside soon, if that's okay?" she finished speaking on a high note, as if asking a question. Roxy nodded reassuringly. It was strange how much better she felt about herself and leaving her planet and all that when she was comforting others. Would that feeling come back? She didn't know, but she was quite alright with it being gone for good, thanks.

"Yeah, totally!" she said. "We can do that."

"Great,' Jade smiled, a real, relieved smile. "Thanks, Rox."

Roxy smiled back at her, hugged her more tightly, and ruffled her hair. "Anytime," she said. "Anytime."

* * *

_AN: Slowly descending back into angst :D :D :D and also have some DaveJade :D :D :D :D :D_

_I'm publishing this like two hours before my AP physics exam. This is what I'm doing instead of last minute studying. OH WELL!_

_Also. All the friendships. All of them. Friendships are best :)_

_Thanks for reading and for reviewing! You're the bomb! For anyone taking AP exams - GOOD LUCK and YOU GOT THIS!_


	58. Chapter 58: Rose - Flight III

"Hey, Rose!"

At the sound of her name, the seer turned to find Roxy approaching, a basket of groceries hanging from the crook of her elbow as she wove through the thin crowd in the marketplace. Her hair was piled into a messy bun atop her head and her clothes were nondescript—a faded blue traveling tunic, worn boots, a thin cloak—but she still walked with the air of one who was used to better places, her back straight and head held high. It was the walk of an upper class member of society, that was for sure. Rose made a mental note to teach her to blend in a bit better, later.

"Yes?" she asked then, looking into the basket. There were spices, herbs, smoked meats, dried fruits, jams, and preserves, all the things that were meant to last a while. Good, good.

"Is this all good stuff?" the other girl asked, holding it out for easier inspection. "The jasmine was a little expensive, but it wasn't a problem, so I went ahead and bought it."

"It looks good to me," Rose said, nodding once. "I'm almost done here; if you'd like you can wait in line with me, or you can go ahead and try to see if anyone else is at the rendezvous point." A group of them had come into a medium-sized town to restock their supplies, which were running dangerously low after leaving the island. Dave and Roxy hadn't brought supplies from Ensypi and Dirk and Jade hadn't kept many, preferring to forage and fish on the island for fresh meals, and whatever Rose, Jane, and John had had didn't last long when distributed among eight people rather than three. So Jade had warped herself, Dave, Rose, Roxy, John, and Dirk into this city to get more things to let them survive a bit longer.

"Sweet," Roxy beamed. "I'll stick with you, we can walk over to find them together. No point in getting too lost, ya know!"

"True," Rose agreed, stepping forward as the line moved up. In her shopping basket were a number of fruits and vegetables, some cheeses and eggs—all the perishables. That was how she and Roxy had split up the shopping list between them; Rose just needed to get these to Jade and back to camp soon. The Space girl had a spell she could use to slow down molecular movement, which kept the foods cool so they didn't go bad quickly. It was basically like a magical refrigeration charm, which was more than a little helpful given their particular way of life.

Once she had paid the vendor, the two of them left that section of the market and headed to the side street leading to a small square, at the center of which was a little fountain and statue. That was where all of them had agreed to meet up after they finished their shopping.

No one was there yet. Rose and Roxy set down their baskets on the brim of the fountain, and Roxy plopped down next to hers, swinging her legs out as she did so. "Well," she said, "time to wait, huh?"

"So it seems," Rose agreed. She remained standing, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she scanned their surroundings again. "That doesn't seem so bad, though." Or, rather, it wouldn't, if she could get rid of this nagging feeling that something wasn't right. The most troubling thing about those feelings, see, was that she was a seer, and so more often than not, they were right.

Roxy grinned. "No," she said, "I don't think so either! Your company isn't so bad, Rosie. I rather enjoy it!"

Rose let herself laugh at that, finally sitting down next to Roxy, too. It was nice, she supposed, spending time with her mother—or rather, the girl who would have grown up to be her mother, in another universe. Having Roxy be her age, though, was a boon most unexpected; Rose wouldn't have expected it herself, but she was very grateful that they were both eighteen. Somehow, being friends with Roxy was a lot easier than making amends with a woman old enough to have been her mother would have been. "Why thank you," she said lightly. "Hearing that my companionship is pleasurable always is a balm to my mood."

"You're welcome," the other girl laughed. "Come on, at least the day is nice and we're all good! Let's look on the bright side for once."

Rose nodded slightly. "Yes," she said, "we are all good. Let's just hope we stay that way."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roxy frowned a little, leaning in and dropping her voice softly. "Is everything okay?"

Rose pressed her lips together. What kind of question was that? They were on the run, more desperate than ever before in this universe, because the Batterwitch was specifically looking for their group again, and this time they knew they couldn't stay here. They were trying to get to a spaceport as soon as they found one they could pay off to take them to Derse instead of alerting authorities to the fact that Dirk Strider the Shaded Prince and Jane Crocker the Masked Maiden were aboard!

They were admitting that they had lost. They were running away, in the end. That's what it was. They were running away, if they could manage to live long enough to do so. And Roxy was here asking if everything was okay. Did she not see how hopeless their situation was?

"I'll tell you about it later," she finally answered, looking away. Silence fell.

"Oh!" Roxy straightened, peering through the people milling about. "Is that Dave and Jade? Over there coming from the south street?"

Rose turned to see the south street entrance, letting her gaze skim lightly over the crowd as if her eye merely wandered. Yes, there they were, walking together. Dave held the bundle of their groceries; one glance was enough to tell Rose that he had probably insisted on carrying it and held it above Jade's head, out of reach, until she agreed to let him. This was a common enough occurrence with the two of them that the seer was less than surprised, but it was still amusing to imagine nonetheless.

"Yes," she said in answer to Roxy's question, "that's them. Just Dirk and John left, then, and we can be off."

"You sure are eager to leave," Roxy said, looking around at the tall buildings and flashy lights and bustling crowds with a wistful note in her voice. "Don't you miss living in an actual city?"

Rose frowned slightly. "Yes," she said, haltingly, "but I also know that I cannot afford to live in one. And no, I don't mean moneywise." Her eyes flicked back to Dave and Jade. Something was off with them—their expressions seemed more serious than normal, grimness written over Dave's face while anxiety flickered over Jade's. What was wrong?

"I miss it," Roxy sighed. "Is it weird to say that living in the old house and doing all that stuff reminded me of you? Like... living up to the city girl dreams, attending fancy dance parties and doing a lot of readings and things. All of that. It just ... Made me feel like I was the daughter you would have wanted, like I was living up to you. Is that weird?"

"That's not weird," Rose shook her head, looking back to the other girl with a soft smile. "But for what it's worth, Roxy, you know what?" She lay her hand atop her daughtermom's. "As far as I am concerned, you are the perfect daughter. Slash mother, too. All rolled into one."

Roxy's smile broadened into a semblance of the usual bright sunny one that Rose hadn't seen in altogether far too long. "Thanks," she said. "You too, mom. You too."

Jade and Dave reached them at that point. Dave placed the bundle of cloth—new clothes, materials for repairing old clothes, and the like—down next to the grocery baskets, while Jade sat down next to Rose and produced her communicator.

"Bad news," she said softly, her voice so low that Rose could barely hear it. "Look."

In her hand, the communicator was projecting a hologram taken earlier that day, of one of the main message boards in the center of town. Rose bit back a swear at the image in the center.

_WANTED: Roxanne Lalonde_, the poster read, with a clear image of the girl right next to her. A reward was offered, too, with the mere explanation that this girl was a criminal and a threat to the state and should be apprehended with all possible speed for collaboration with terrorists.

"Right..." she said slowly, shaking her head once as she digested the information. "Jade. Get her out of here, now. I'll call John and tell him to come back here—"

"No," Jade said. "That'll just take more time. Just tell me where they are, and I can get them from there. It doesn't matter if anyone sees me then, we won't ever be coming back here, and no matter what we do we'll be making tracking our movements difficult. Yesterday we were at the harbor at Kirmenos, today we're in Baryll in the middle of the Eastern Plains!"

"Pipe down," Dave cautioned, shifting his weight and looking around at the passerby suspiciously. "Walls have ears, Harls."

She shrank in on herself slightly. "Sorry."

"You're perfectly fine," Rose assured her. "Just hurry, now. Already people might have seen her. We just need to all get our things back to camp and sit down and talk, I think. Yes, we need to have a long talk."

* * *

That evening found them all sitting in the tent after dinner, having their long talk just as Rose had wanted. She hated to burst their bubbles, but the grim reality of what they all faced could not be ignored any longer, and it was time to remind everyone else just how truly terrible of a situation they were in.

"So it really is hopeless," Jane said glumly, burying her face in her hands.

"Hey, no, don't say that!" Roxy protested, grabbing Jane's hands and squeezing them. "It's not hopeless, Janey, we're still gonna be alright!"

Rose pressed her lips together and swallowed a sigh—she honestly found herself agreeing with Jane here, just with less distress and more acceptance. They had failed on Skaia, so they had to move on. Staying here was hopeless. She, John, Dave, and Jade had tried that before, tried staying when there was nothing left for them and plenty of incentive to flee. It had led to this universe, and Rose wasn't stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.

"Going offworld isn't that bad," Jade offered quietly, leaning against her brother. Everyone turned to look at her, and she shrugged slightly. "I've been to Prospit before, with my grandfather. John, remember that? You slept through most of the first day we were there!"

"I remember that," John nodded with a little grin that faded fast. Even the boy who could fly wasn't immune to the gravity of their current situation, apparently. "Yeah, Prospit was pretty nice."

"It won't be that awful," Jade told the rest of the room. Everyone was sitting inside the tent, in the little sitting area in the front entrance. Rose figured they had all wanted to move inside, herself included, because the smaller space felt more defendable, more safe and secure. She didn't blame anyone for wanting the feeling of safety, of security. It was something they all lacked, these days.

"Yeah, it might be okay," Dirk said, "if we could get everyone up there without getting someone arrested. If it'll get everyone out safely, I can stay—"

"No, you're _not _staying," Jane said emphatically, turning the full force of her frown upon him. "You and I had this discussion yesterday, and I haven't changed my mind since then! I'm not leaving this planet if you're not."

"Also," Dave interjected, "not to be the killjoy and rain on your self sacrificing parade or anything, but Jane's just as much of a target as you, bro. Staying behind won't get her or Rox out safely. There's literally no point in us leaving you."

"See!" Jane exclaimed, flinging her hands up. "Listen to your brother! He has a point!"

Dirk seemed disgruntled, but he just shrugged and didn't reply. Jane eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then took his hand. Rose sighed softly.

"I don't mean to distress you," she said, "but he _does _have a point. Dirk, I mean. Getting all of us into a spaceport and out of here without getting reported and arrested is still something I'm not sure how we're going to do. Any suggestions as to how we pull that off are more than welcome."

"I might be able to just warp us all to Prospit," Jade suggested. Something in her voice belied the apparent easy-way-out that her solution presented, though, and Rose was hesitant to jump on that idea without finding out what the unsaid "but" was.

"Is there a condition attached to that 'might'?" she asked, tilting her head to one side curiously.

Jade shrugged slightly. "Well," she said, "there is a _possibility_, not a huge one or anything but it's still there, that because of the distance and of how Skaia and the moons move and of how they're a binary moon system with moons of their own and basically because of just how complicated the motion of the Skaia and moons system is, and how complex a group of life-forms is if it's to remain alive, there is a possibility that I might, um, not exactly run out of magic, because I have enough that guiding that spell isn't an issue, but the whole channeling part of it might be a bit much for me to handle, and, well, you know what that means ..."

Rose did indeed know what that meant. A mage who was unable to channel the amount of power they tried to draw from was simply burnt up, consumed by their own magic. It was, many said, the reason that mages had natural limits on their abilities; most had a pool of magic to draw from that was under the channelling limit.

"No," Dave said flatly and finally. "We're not taking that chance. Find another way."

"Yeah, not happening," John said with finality. Rose nodded her own agreement.

"You're not doing that," she said.

"Sorry," Jake jumped in, "you three know what that means, perhaps, but I don't. Does anyone care to explain?" He looked around a bit nervously, then dropped his gaze. Rose wondered why he didn't seem to think he was on equal ground with everyone else, why he seemed to seek approval for his words.

"Getting everyone to Prospit in one piece would possibly kill Jade," Dave explained, frowning with disapproval at across the coffee table at the girl in question, who shrugged as if to say _at least it was worth a shot_. "It's another weird magic thing."

"Basically," Rose elaborated, "the amount of power she would need to temper her own raw power, ironically, so that we all were delivered to Prospit in one piece and still alive, despite the complex motion of orbiting binary moons, is enough that wielding it all at once would consume her."

"Oh," Jake said, looking from Rose to Jade. "Well, we certainly aren't having that. What's the next plan?"

"It's a perfectly viable plan!" Jade protested, but John gave her a quick squeeze.

"Just stop talking," he advised. "We're not doing that one."

Silence fell among the group. Everyone knew what they had to do—get to a port city, get on a space ship, get away from Skaia, find another way to live—but the obstacle of the Batterwitch herself lay in their path, and no one was quite sure how to combat it.

"I'm still not sure about Lord English," Roxy said suddenly. "They just seemed to disappear. That doesn't make sense. Where did they go?"

"I don't know, and honestly right now I don't give a fuck," Dirk tiredly replied, running a hand through his hair and leaning back against the cushioned backrest of the sofa. "I just want us to get somewhere safe and _then _worry about politics, Rox."

Roxy looked more than a little dissatisfied with that response, but at the general murmur of assent from the rest of the group, she nodded and gave in, dropping the topic. Rose made a mental note to go talk to her about Lord English later—everyone else might be able to afford to forget, for now, but as the seer, Rose had to keep a hold of every string in this intricate puppet waltz. She would have to stay on top of politics, too.

"So," John finally said, after another tense, awkward silence fell, during which everyone tried to brainstorm and yet came up with the same things they had before, or nothing. "Spaceports."

"Spaceports," Jake agreed with a sigh. "Bloody fucking spaceports."

"Probably a bigger one is a good idea," Roxy suggested. "Bigger ones mean more chances of blending into a crowd. Where's the biggest spaceport on the planet?"

"The City," Jane answered, then shook her head. She let out a dry snort. "Something tells me we aren't going to that one."

"And that something would be right," Roxy agreed hurriedly. "Nope, not that one. Second biggest is what ... I think Mydoa? Mydoa's got a huge one, I know that much at least. It's equatorial, that's why."

Mydoa was a huge city with a bit of a notorious reputation for crime. Not for the first time, Rose wished they could just use transportalization technology, but it was all government mandated and required specific identification procedures from each passenger. That automatically ruled it out for them, unlike spaceflight. Ah well, Mydoa would have to do. Places known for crime were places likely to house people who they could pay off for a ride to Derse.

"Mydoa will work," she agreed.

"Mydoa? But it's so ... unsafe," Jane objected.

"One can more easily bribe the unscrupulous," Jake reminded her, and she nodded, conceding the point a bit reluctantly. Rose figured she was less than keen on the whole plan, even still.

"We can call it an early night," she suggested. "Tomorrow, Jade, you and some people can go scope out Mydoa, see when the earliest we can get to Derse is. Is that agreeable to everyone?"

A chorus of nods and "yeah"s went around the room, and then people started to disband. Rse stayed seated for a long moment afterwards, pondering the finality of what they were doing, flying away from Skaia. She suspected the true severity of the emotional aspect of this hadn't hit her yet. Hopefully, that would refrain from happening a little longer, until they were safely away and she could afford to have a breakdown.

If all went well, by this time in a day or two, they would be offworld. Rose spared a moment to the thought of a receding blue sphere set amid a black field of a myriad stars, and then she went to bed.

* * *

_AN: [crosses fingers and hopes for that update schedule to work out]_

_haha it's almost three in the morning why am I writing fanfic._

_Dirk no stop don't suggest suicide missions. Jade no stop don't suggest - man, what is wrong with you two. Stop that. Don't. :/_

_Happy Sunday (that's when you all will be reading this I'm sure) everyone! Thanks for reading and especially for reviewing! :)_


	59. Chapter 59: Jade - Opportunities

"Yo."

Jade turned, the breeze blowing her hair into her face and making her quickly brush it back behind her ears, to see Dave walking over to her. "Hi," she greeted quietly, smiling at him. It had been a while since it had just been the two of them alone together, enjoying the stillness of the morning, perhaps. At least, maybe he was enjoying it. To her, it was just the ominous calm before a storm.

He settled into a comfortable seated position on the log near the embers of the campfire and patted the wood next to him. "Who else is coming with us?" he asked as she sat down.

_With us?_ she wondered for a split second, then realized that that was his way of letting her know he was coming, and that he would probably brook no argument. Well, that was alright, because she didn't intend to give him any. "You know, I'm not entirely sure," she answered thoughtfully. The trip to Mydoa had been weighing heavily on her mind since the previous night when they'd decided to go to the Mydoan spaceport. Jade couldn't help but wonder if the Empress would be waiting to ambush them, knowing that that was where they were headed. "Not Dirk or Jane or Roxy, but past that, anyone, if they want to."

"Not Rose," he answered. "She's exhausted. Been trancing a lot again, and she didn't sleep much last night because she was up plotting shit. She's staying and getting some rest today."

Yeah, judging by what John had told her of Rose's plight until Jane had healed her, Jade was all in favor of making sure the other girl took care of herself. Rose wasn't coming. "Alright, so that leaves John and Jake, if either of them wants to come," she said. "Or it could be just me and you."

Dave snorted. "Not exactly the ideal occasion for a nice romantic date, huh?" he joked. Jade laughed, shaking her head. For a moment, Roxy's bizarre words—_he's head over heels for you _—came to mind, but she hurriedly brushed them off, because that was just silly. Dave just joked like this a lot. It wasn't a big deal!

"Not what I would have picked, no," she said lightly, glancing at him with a little smile before it faded again as the thought of where they were going and what they were doing came back. The sun seemed a bit colder now.

He noticed that, shifting closer to her. "Hey," he said. "What's wrong?"

Jade sighed wearily. "I just can't believe that after everything, I failed us _again_," she said quietly. "I was too careless. I let my power go to my head. I thought that they couldn't catch me now. God, Dave, I feel like such an idiot, of _course_ they'd catch up to me!"

Immediately a warm hand was holding hers. "Jade. It's not your fault, and I'm gonna need you to stop telling yourself that, mkay?" When she didn't respond, staring into the glowing embers instead, Dave let go of her hand and brought his hand up to her cheek, gently but firmly turning her head until she was forced to look at him. "Okay?"

Jade shrugged slightly, trying to get out of this, but he wasn't letting her turn away. "You're not gonna take no for an answer, are you?"

"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "You don't get a choice in this. Stop blaming yourself. It's not your damn fault. It's no one's but the fucking Batterwitch's."

She blew out a breath. "We should eat breakfast and go talk to Jake and John and see if they want to come," she said, blatantly trying to change the topic. It wasn't going to work and she knew that, but it was still worth a shot.

"Yeah," Dave agreed, letting his hand drop from her cheek and trail back down to her fingers. "I guess you'd better agree with me that it wasn't your fault already, then, because the faster you do that the faster we can get this show on the road."

God _dammit_, Dave. Was this really necessary? "Dave..."

He stood his ground, jaw set with stubbornness. That alone was enough to tell her that he wouldn't back down. "Jade."

She fidgeted for a long moment, then gave in, shoulders slumping. "Okay."

"Okay, what?"

"It's—it's not all my fault." It was hard to force those words out, because how could she possibly say something she didn't believe? It was like lying to both herself and Dave. But he wouldn't let her go until she said so, and they needed to go to Mydoa.

"It's not your fault at all," he corrected, but the intentness of his expression softened as he stood in one fluid motion, gently pulling her to her feet too. "C'mon, Harls, let's go find John and Jake."

They took a few steps back towards the tent, Jade trailing behind with her eyes downcast. Wasn't it her fault? She had been reckless... but in a way, if she thought about it as logically as she could, away from the self doubt and self loathing that she knew plagued her, he was kind of right. It was hard to admit to herself because of that self doubt and self loathing, but it was there. Dave was just trying to help her see it.

She stopped walking just outside the tent, tugged on his hand. "Dave?"

He turned, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

Her other hand went to rest on his shoulder to steady her as she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks," she told him earnestly, dropping her gaze to her feet again and thereby missing the pink flush that stained his surprised face before she ducked into the tent. Dave stood outside, touched his cheek once, and then hurried after her.

Jade knocked once on the open door to Jake's room as she stuck her head in. "Hey, Jake," she greeted as he turned around with a friendly smile.

"Top of the morning to you, Jade!" he said, putting down the book he had been flipping through. Jade glanced at it and recognized it as one of Rose's few salvaged texts on magic theory. A bit dry, but packed with knowledge, she supposed. It was good that Jake was trying to brush up and figure it out!

She decided to cut straight to the chase, honestly not having the energy in herself to keep smiling and putting on a cheerful face for too long, not when she was so conflicted and disappointed and frustrated and just generally upset. "We're about to leave for Mydoa," she said, "me and Dave. Do you want to come?"

Smile fading fast, he bit his lip, shaking his head slowly. "I ... I don't think I would be much help to you, frankly. I'm not very good at the whole 'sneaking around the authorities' thing, or the 'bribing people' thing, or any of it, really."

Jade frowned slightly. He had Hope magic, which could be very useful in influencing people, but if he felt it would be best for everyone that he stayed here, she wouldn't want to pull him out into the open. It _was _a bit risky, and they didn't know if the Batterwitch had connected him to Dirk, Jane, and Roxy yet. She was confident enough that she and Dave and possibly John could pull this off, Hope or not, though. "Alright," she said, nodding. "Just checking. We'll be back soon!"

Just as she turned to leave, Jake swiftly darted across the small space between them and crushed her in a quick hug. "Be careful," he said as he withdrew, smoothing her hair into place. "Come home safely, okay?"

She smiled softly. "I will, I promise."

"Good," he said. "I'll see you soon, right?"

"Right. We'll be home soon!" Jade smiled at him and waved, turning on her heel and heading back into the main hallway. John and Dave were walking out of John's room as she turned the corner, nearly bumping into them and backpedaling, windmilling for a second almost comically.

"Whoa! Hey," John grinned down at her, hands on her shoulders to steady her. "Ready to go?"

Something about the fact that he was coming too made her feel a bit less uneasy about this trip. Having her brother along always seemed to hold her fears at bay. Jade felt a little of the tension drain from her shoulders as she looked up and answered, "Yes, just about. I'll grab my cloak from my room and we can go!"

Once she had done that, the dark fabric settling around her shoulders like a comforting blanket that assured her anonymity in the crowds, she joined John and Dave outside. "Shall we?" she asked, holding out her hands to each of them.

"Yeah," John said, squeezing her hand. "Let's go."

Dave's fingers intertwined with hers, and as Jade closed her eyes and thought of Mydoa, the world exploded into brilliant green.

* * *

Keeping her head down, Jade walked quickly behind John along the dimly lit back alleyways in the big spaceport, finding the docking sites of the more unsavory sort. Her hand in Dave's was holding on almost uncomfortably tightly, her knuckles white as he squeezed her fingers reassuringly, but she knew by the way he stayed very close to her and eyed everyone nearby suspiciously that this place had him on edge too.

"Over here are the ships that'll go to Prospit-Derse," John told them over his shoulder, his voice low, as they emerged into a large, open hangar full of ships lined up all facing the sky, and bustling with people rushing to and fro The walls were lined with shops—food, supplies, clothes, cheap things that could be sold to the smugglers and their passengers that came through here. "Hopefully we can get ourselves on one of them."

Jade glanced around at all the rather sketchy-looking ships and their less-than-scrupulous-looking crews. "Are we _sure _we don't want me to just teleport us all to Derse?" she asked drily, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

Dave gripped her hand hard, making her wince slightly. "Pipe the fuck down," he hissed. "Not funny, and don't get us in trouble."

She shrunk in on herself. "Sorry." The air here was thick and heavy and cloying, humid and full of the smoke from ships landing and taking off and the scents of greasy cheap food from harborside vendors. She could hardly breathe for all the musk.

His thumb stroked the base of hers, becoming a comfort in the dark space harbor again. Although he didn't say anything, somehow that simple motion was enough to make her lungs remember how to function, and she could breathe again.

"Should we split or stick together?" John asked. "If we split we can cover more ground faster, but..."

"Staying together would be safer," Jade murmured, glancing around. "But there are so many ships... how will we ever do this in one night?" A feeling of hopelessness started to overcome her again, and if they hadn't been wading through a crowd she would have buried her face in her hands.

"We can split up," John decided. "Everyone has a communicator on them, right?"

"Yeah," Dave said. "We can do this like you and Jade, and then me, or what? How're we splitting?"

Oh, good, the option was there of only two groups? Thank the stars. Jade really didn't want to go off alone in this place. She didn't really want any one of them going off alone, really, but covering twice as much ground was important. They didn't have unlimited time—the Batterwitch's probes were probably scouring the planet for their campsite right this moment. They had to hurry and get away from Skaia, the sooner the better.

"Do you wanna go alone?" John asked, dubious. "I can do that, dude, it's no big deal."

Apparently, Jade being the one to go alone wasn't an option that had crossed either John or Dave's minds. If she hadn't been so unsettled, Jade might have found that kind of funny. As it was, though, she just shifted closer to them both, looking around nervously. Something about this place put her very on edge, like a feeling that something was about to go wrong. Judging by her two companions' expressions, they both felt the same way.

"Either way is cool with me," Dave said. Jade had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at this—they weren't getting anywhere! The sooner they found a ship that would take eight passengers to Derse, no questions asked, the sooner they could get out of this place. She did not like Mydoa.

"Oh, come on, then!" she exclaimed, dropping Dave's hand to grab John's. "We'll go left, you go right, Dave. Whoever gets one first messages the other?"

"Yeah, sounds good," he agreed, looking at her oddly for a quick moment before he stepped away. "Be careful, you two."

"You be careful," John returned. "Check in with us every ten minutes, too."

"Will do," the Time mage said, and then turned and melted into the crowd, his dark cloak blending into the sea of covered heads. Jade stared after him for a moment and then looked up to her brother.

"Well," she said, "let's get searching, huh?"

The first ship they approached flat-out refused them, saying that they didn't carry human passengers at all. The second was a smuggler who leered at Jade, and John immediately backpedaled, eyeing the man darkly as they left. The third wanted a truly exorbitant price, one they technically could have paid but which would have marked them as rich and therefore easy pickings.

This continued, until an over hour later they were still wandering from spaceship to spaceship. Jade's feet were starting to hurt a bit—climbing up and down from deck to deck nonstop got a bit taxing—but she wanted to keep pressing on, they had to succeed, they had to find a ship and go away from here!

Wearily, they approached the next one. Finding a crewman who directed them to the captain, they walked up to the woman. Jade stepped forward.

"Excuse me," she said politely, dropping her voice so that only the smuggler in front of her could hear. "Is your ship going to Derse anytime soon?"

"Aye," the woman said, sweeping her gaze over Jade and John appraisingly. "Two days from now, as soon as we restock. If you're wantin' passage, it'll cost ya."

Jade put on her best innocent, poor girl expression, blinking. "Oh, right! Um, how much would it be for eight people?" she asked, wide-eyed. Acting dumb would get them the worst offer, and they could haggle downward from there, rather than giving the smuggler a leg up by showing how desperate they were. Besides, she needed them to require an amount higher than the reward they might get if they realized that they could turn Dirk in, so that the profit was in _not _doing so, if they recognized him. It was a risky business through and through.

"Eight people, and no questions asked," John added, stepping forward slightly and placing a hand on Jade's shoulder. "We don't want any trouble."

The captain's eyebrows shot up ever so slightly. "Well, you want eight seats to Derse. Normally that'd be a thousand credits a head, but if you want no trouble, sweetie, you'd best fork over half o' that again, each."

"Half of that again for each?" Jade repeated, pretending to take a moment to do the mental math. "But that's—that's twelve thousand credits!" Twelve thousand was doable. It wasn't so huge that it was extremely notable, even though it was a sizeable sum. They could work with twelve thousand. She started to feel a glimmer of hope.

"That's the asking price," the woman said. "Take or leave it. I'm not bargainin' that one."

Well, so much for haggling it down. That was okay, though. Twelve thousand they could manage.

"Can we see where we'd be staying for the duration of the trip, at least, if you're gonna charge us that much?" John interjected, looking up at the ship. Even though he didn't say it, Jade could tell he was thinking _wow, what a piece of junk_.

"Sure," the captain shrugged, then turned to one of the nearby crewmen. "Oi! Lanars!"

The troll who must have been Lanars turned around. "Yes, ma'am?"

Waving a hand at Jade and John, the smuggler captain called, "Show 'em the passenger hold, they're thinking of coming with us to Derse."

"'Course," Lanars said. "This way." He led them up the ramp into the ship, through a few corridors, and into a small room with a large viewport—it was in the back of the ship, with layered, thick glass panels showing the vista behind the ship as it travelled. Overall, not a bad room to spend a day in, not at all.

Jade looked over at John, who nodded at her. She nodded back—this ship looked good. They had finally found their way offworld.

Back off the ship, Lanars led them to the captain again. "Well?" she asked.

"We'll take it," Jade said, nodding. "When do you want our party to arrive?" She would have to make sure that everyone had a cover story, too, she realized, in case they talked to the crew. 'No questions asked' only really applied to the big ones, and they did need to make sure if a light conversation was struck up, their stories were all consistent. That would be something to take up with Rose, when they all got back to camp.

"Two days from now, at nine hours past midday," the woman answered. "We leave at nine-fifteen. Don't be late. You can pay now or when you show up, but payment on arrival isn't gonna fly, missy."

"That's fine," John said quickly. "We'll pay you in two days."

"Aight," the captain said. "Move along."

Walking away, Jade looked over at John, her eyes a bit wide. "So, that's happening," she said quietly. "Two more days on Skaia."

"Two more days on Skaia," he agreed, somber, as he reached over and took her hand. "At least after this, we'll be safe. It'll be okay."

Hopefully, yes. Jade really wanted him to be right.

"Hey," he added, "let's call Dave. It's time to get outta here and tell everyone else."

Jade looked around the grimy spaceport, dark and full of people scurrying back and forth, everyone shifty and no one seeming trustworthy. She was quite glad to leave it. "Yeah, let's."

Soon, she told herself, this would all be over. Soon, she would have another life, another chance, again. Hopefully, this time she wouldn't fuck it up.

* * *

_AN: IM GONNA MAKE IT. ONE MORE UPDATE._

_We're almost there guys... after this one, there's just one more chapter in this tale! Expect it tomorrow with more deets on what's to come for Magestuck :D_

_See that DaveJade setting sail? It's getting ready, it's gonna sail soon. :P Same as this spaceship, apparently._

_Thanks for reading and reviewing! :)_


	60. Chapter 60: Jane - Goodbye

Jane was up with the sun, watching from her little window as the first beams brought daybreak over the distant, misty horizon. Quietly, she stood there, bathed in the early morning light, until the sky was a pale blue, not dark and deep anymore, and then she turned away. It was time to get ready to face today, the last full day they would be spending on Skaia.

Stepping back into the dimness of her room, away from the glass, she took a deep breath as she studied her reflection in the mirror, running her fingers through her hair. It was getting long, almost down to her shoulders—she really needed to cut it again. It was nothing short of a hassle when it got long, and if she was going to be running around doing who knew what, and being who knew where, a hassle was the last thing she needed.

The girl in the mirror wasn't the same girl Jane would have recognized as herself, not so long ago. She was thinner, more haunted, tanner, and overall looked like she'd seen far more than a girl of eighteen years ought to.

But she was just letting the strange solemnity of the dawn get to her, and there were things to be done. Jane gathered clothes and left her room and went to the bathroom—it was a nice, upper-district styled one, with nigh-unlimited hot water and a comfortable design, too, though it lacked the more luxurious amenities like viewscreens and music that she'd seen in Roxy's old apartment. But Jane was fine with that, because she didn't need all that nonsense when she was just here to wash off!

Turning on the water, she stuck her hand into the stream and quickly yanked it out, turning the temperature down to a less scalding one. Then she quickly discarded her sleepwear on the floor and stepped into the stall, closing her eyes as the hot water pounded against her back.

They were really leaving, she thought. They were leaving Skaia.

Six months ago, she had never even been outside the Imperial City! They'd still been planning rallies and her biggest worries had been whether her cloak would last all winter or it would fall apart and she'd have to patch it, not this life and death and something even greater than that situation. She hadn't in her wildest dreams expected to be able to see Poppop again, even in this not-quite-Poppop way. She hadn't in her darkest nightmares expected to be kidnapped and held hostage and threatened with torture.

How had her life come to this?

"Oh, stop being melodramatic," she told herself, shaking her head as if that would help clear it of all these thoughts, the ones that were terribly overwhelmed in general and the ones that were upset, that just wanted to stay. Skaia was her _home_, she couldn't just leave it!

No, she had to stop that. They didn't have a choice, they _had _to leave, home or not! And she was just being silly. She grabbed a bottle of soap and squeezed it into her palm, and scrubbed herself vigorously.

When she finished bathing and dried off, she donned a simple blouse and skirt and with the ease of practice laced up the back of her overshirt, tying the ribbons off in a neat bow at the small of her back. Then she left the bathroom to go outside to the campfire, shivering slightly as the cool breeze hit her wet hair. Jade was sitting out there already, tending something in the flames. Jane wondered if she had slept at all the previous night, then remembered that they had watches set up again, and that Jade had the morning shift, along with John. He was around here somewhere, then.

"Good morning," she said so that the other girl would be notified of her presence, crossing the ground between the tent entrance and the fireside cooking pot. "Had breakfast yet?"

"Hi, Jane," Jade greeted, waving, before she shook her head. "No," she said, "we wanted to wait for everyone to wake up. But we started cooking it!"

"Did you?" Jane leaned over, inspecting its contents, and found of all things a thin pancake sizzling in the pan. "What's this!"

Jade laughed almost sheepishly. "The spells I had on the eggs and milk would have worn off soon and they would've gone bad, plus since, well, we're leaving tomorrow, we wouldn't have needed them much longer anyway," she said, tucking her hair neatly behind her ears, "so John and I just decided to use them all up! There's a lot more batter, so there's gonna be plenty for everyone!"

"Well, pancakes are a good way to start the day," Jane said, shrugging. Of all the ... pancakes! Why pancakes? Pancakes seemed like an absurdly normal, happy thing to be eating on this of all occasions, but ... then again, maybe not everyone here was as distressed about leaving Skaia as she was. They could be happy with their pancakes. "Shall I go wake everyone else up?"

"Please," Jade said gratefully, then reconsidered. "But if they want to rest, we can give them a little longer. Especially Rose."

Remembering the darkness she'd felt in the corners of the seer's mind that one time, the darkness that had come from her overworking her powers and not resting enough, Jane nodded vigorously. Rose would get her rest. "I'll do that," she said, and turned back into the tent.

Just as she was about to enter, her hand pushing aside the heavy flap, she heard Jade call her name.

"Jane!"

Jane turned slightly, looking over her shoulder. "Yes?"

Jade bit her lip, adjusted her glasses a little self-consciously, and then vanished in a burst of green to appear standing right in front of Jane, who jumped in surprise. She would never be used to that!

Jade's hand came to rest on Jane's shoulder, a warm, comforting weight. "It isn't so bad," she said softly. "Running, I mean. It'll be alright."

Jane wasn't so sure of that, but she nodded nonetheless. "Thanks," she told the other girl, and then ducked away into the tent.

* * *

That evening, everyone pitched in to pack up camp, putting everything that didn't need to be outside back into the tent in neat little boxes. If something didn't fit, Jade spelled it so that it would, and they went on.

Jane finished folding the last of the laundry that had been hung up to dry that morning, rolling it and stuffing it into a crate to be sorted later. Now that the sun was gone, she was starting to wish that she'd dressed more warmly; the air in the forest got a bit chilly at night. She shivered slightly as she carried the crate into the tent.

"Yo, Janey!" Roxy called as soon as she entered, nearly stopping in the doorway to appreciate the cozy warmth that their little living space emanated.

The taller girl jumped to her feet and waltzed over to take the crate from Jane in one fluid motion, twirling around to stack it atop the rest before Jane could even protest. Then she grabbed Jane's wrist and tugged her over to the couch, pressing a steaming mug topped with cream into her hands.

"Here, hot cocoa night," she beamed. "Let's just sit, hm? We can just sit and—holy shit, your hands are cold!" She put her own mug down on the floor by the couch and pressed Jane's hand between both of hers, shaking her head.

Jane laughed softly. "It happens," she said, "when one is outside folding laundry for an hour."

Roxy shook her head. "Wear a coat next time, silly," she advised teasingly, one letting go of Jane's hand to pick up her hot chocolate again. The other twined its fingers around Jane's, just holding it soothingly now. That made Jane smile slightly. Roxy had always been able to pick up on the slightest of sad moods from her, and now even after almost three months of separation, that was unchanged. "How are you, honey?"

Jane sighed, her head falling against Roxy's shoulder. "I can't—I can't believe we're _leaving_," she said. "This time tomorrow, we won't be on this planet anymore. I just can't believe it!" There was more—she was unbelievably _sad_, because in that tiny apartment in the Lower Districts there were things she would never see again, like that portrait of Poppop and Dad and herself, or the things they'd given her for her birthday, the little mementos that she had of the life she used to leave—but she didn't know how to say those things. She didn't know how to say that she was afraid, too.

Instead, those unspoken words just came out as a lump in her throat that made her voice catch and tears spring unbidden to her eyes. Roxy immediately made a soft sound of distress and squeezed her hand, leaning in close and laying her cheek against Jane's temple. "Oh, Janey..."

Jane shook her head, somewhere between sniffling and laughing sheepishly at her own stupid tears. "Sorry," she said, feeling her cheeks heating. "I'm just being silly." No one else seemed to be this upset about it! She needed to get over herself.

"No, you're not!" Roxy argued, hugging her with one arm. "Hush and drink your hot chocolate. You're not being silly, promise. I had a sob session about it yesterday."

"You did?" Jane was startled into raising her head and meeting her best friend's gaze, surprised. "Why didn't you come get me or someone?"

Roxy shrugged lackadaisically, the picture of affectionate indolence as she ruffled Jane's hair. "Same reason you usually don't come get me, I s'pose."

Okay, Jane couldn't really argue there. "You should come get me anyway," she said, smiling a tiny but mischievous smile. It was entirely hypocritical and they both knew it, but gosh darnit she was going to care aggressively about Roxy, hypocritical behavior or not!

Roxy booped her nose, grinning. "Only if you agree to come get me if you need anything, ever," she said. "Whaddya say, deal?"

They'd made a similar deal in the past. Jane nodded, vowing to herself to actually try to keep this one from falling apart. She wouldn't fail twice, she wouldn't! She wasn't sure if she'd be able to live with herself if she did that, even on something like an agreement that she knew Roxy wouldn't be mad at her for dishonoring. Somehow, it just seemed worse to disappoint without being held accountable for that failure. She would have to work on her self-esteem and accepting and especially _seeking_ help. "Deal."

They lapsed into a short and easy, companionable silence, listening to the soft sounds of conversation drifting from the other rooms. Jane heard Rose's silvery laugh at something John said, heard a door open. Then Dirk came walking into the main room.

"Hey," he greeted them both, plopping down on Jane's other side and sprawling in the corner of the couch, draping one of his arms around her shoulders. "How's it going?"

Jane smiled up at him, scooting herself around so that while she remained leaning on Roxy, she could lay her legs across his lap. This was why sitting in the middle was hard, she thought with a quirk of her lips. "Alright, I guess." And just like that all her worries came crashing back over her and she dropped her gaze, biting her lip to keep herself from letting out a whimper. She didn't want to leave!

"Doesn't look alright to me," Dirk commented, concern radiating from his voice. She just _knew _he would be giving her the little quirked eyebrow and frown when she looked back up, the one that meant he was both telling her he was worried and telling her to spill the beans in one look.

"Are _you _alright?" she turned the question around, swallowing with difficulty and forcing the emotions back down. Roxy stroked her hair wordlessly as Jane looked up at Dirk, wondering how he was handling all this.

He shrugged slightly. "Yeah, pretty much."

That was a lie and all three of them knew it. Still, Jane decided not to press, because then he might press her, and she wasn't ready to talk. She'd come the closest to talking that she would when Roxy had asked, and they'd literally _just _finished that conversation! "Good," she said, and left it at that.

Finally Roxy broke the silence. "Anyone seen Jakey tonight?" she asked. "While we're all just sitting around and snuggling, I mean."

"Yeah," Dirk said. "He's with Jade and my bro right now. I think he's kinda upset about leaving, too."

Jane sighed to herself, taking a long sip from her hot cocoa. Leaving seemed to be upsetting all around. She almost wanted to just go to sleep to flee the thoughts and the emotional turmoil, but sleep would bring the morning closer, and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.

* * *

Rose adjusted the wig on Jane's head a tad further, running her hands through the long pale silvery "hair" and moving the waves to frame Jane's face, then stepped back and appraised her handiwork, nodding before she handed Jane the hand mirror.

"There," she said. "That should do for now. You'll only need to keep it on until we get to Derse, because once we're out of Skaian space you're no longer a wanted girl. It'll still be better to lie a bit low, but you won't be officially hunted, at least."

Jane looked at the girl in the reflection, with long, silver hair and brown eyes and no glasses—she was still trying to get used to the lenses Roxy had conjured for her! Nice as they were, she preferred her glasses, though—and took a moment to recognize herself under the heavy disguise. "All of this is really necessary?" she asked, turning the mirror this way and that.

"I'm afraid so," Rose sighed. "I'm sure I don't need to blabber about the Masked Maiden to you again, you understand all that. It's just for your own safety, and that of your traveling companions, too."

"I don't feel like myself," Jane muttered, handing the mirror back. "I guess that's the point."

"More or less," Rose agreed with a warm smile. "Go on, now, I think we had best get going."

Jane stood and dusted off her skirt, helping the other girl clean up the little makeover area quickly before leaving the tent again. Everyone else was waiting outside; even with her bleak mood Jane had to stifle a giggle at Dirk's disgruntled expression. He clearly did not enjoy wearing a wig.

"Everybody ready?" Jade asked, looking around. One by one, everyone nodded. Jane glanced around the forest, wanting to cling to the earth and the trees and this _planet_, her home planet, but knowing that she couldn't. They were about to leave, and she had to let it go.

Acting on impulse, without really thinking of anything, she darted to the nearest patch of tiny wildflowers and plucked a few, twisting them into her hair. She would take _some _memento from Skaia with her into space, to Derse and Prospit. She could keep these flowers.

There was a muted green flash. Jane turned around to see Jade shrink the tent smaller and smaller until she just ... put the entire thing into her pocket and then with a twitch of her fingers, eradicated the campfire. Then she turned to the rest of them expectantly, holding out her hands for the jump to Mydoa. Jane stared at her for a moment, wondering how she managed to cast her spells so naturally, like an extension of herself, with no effort, and then shook herself from that daze and grabbed John's hand as they all formed a circle.

Everything went green for a blindingly bright instant, and then reformed into a dark, empty alleyway. The ground was dirt-smeared brick covered in trash, the buildings were tall and in shambles in places, rising up against the hazy night sky. No stars were visible from all the light—bright, technicolor signs were everywhere, advertising products and services. As they walked out of the alleyway in pairs and groups of three, to walk close near each other but not entirely together, because big groups were more recognizable, people scurried around them, no one meeting anyone else's gaze and everyone hurrying by with heads down. It reminded Jane of the Lower Districts, kind of like home. She thought she might grow to quite like Mydoa, if she had time to give it a chance. But she didn't.

Squeezing Jake's hand, she followed Dirk and Roxy and Rose as they followed John, Dave, and Jade down to the spaceship docks, weaving through the crowd. Jake squeezed her fingers back, giving her a wan smile that belied how nervous he was too. Well, Jane thought, at least she wasn't the only one.

"It'll be okay," she whispered to him, not believing a word she said herself. "We'll be okay."

"I know," he murmured back before he picked up the pace slightly so they didn't get left behind, leaving Jane with the distinct feeling that he didn't believe her either.

John, Dave, and Jade stopped before one ship that looked ... well, Jane didn't think it looked like anything special, compared to some of the ships they'd all walked past, but then again she was definitely no expert on spaceships. Quietly, head down, she shuffled along with Jake and followed them to a passenger hold in the back of the ship. There, everyone else seemed to relax a little, tension draining from their frames. Jane exchanged unsure glances with Jake and squeezed his hand tighter.

"We have a little time to wait before liftoff," John said, sitting down in one of the seats along the wall. "The captain told me that we're a little early, which is good, but that they're still refueling. But it's alright, now. Relax!"

"Speak for yourself, buster," Jane muttered, turning away. Jake nodded, but didn't say anything. She let go of his hand and slid her arms around his waist, leaning against him for a moment. "You okay?"

"I ... I will be," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "Don't worry about me."

Feeling bleaker than ever, Jane laughed humorlessly. "Jake," she said, looking him in the eye, "I'm your friend. That's what I do."

He snorted once but didn't respond. After a moment, he gently pulled away and went to sit down next to John, leaving Jane to stand there alone. She looked around at the white walls and the sleek, smooth design of the room, the huge window displaying the bustling, dark spaceport, and began to feel it sinking in that she was never going to see her home again. Never before had Jane Crocker felt quite this lost.

When she drew her gaze away from the window that made up one entire wall of their hold, she turned around to see that everyone else had taken a seat along the walls, strapping in. John called her over.

"Better buckle in," he warned. "We'll be taking off soon!"

"Oh," she said, sitting down next to Dirk. "Right."

The engines began to rumble not long after that, and Jane swallowed tears that threatened to spill over. She would not cry, she would not cry, she _would not cry_. As the window's view was obscured by smoke and she felt the ship lurch, felt herself pressed into her seat as it left the ground, she froze, almost terrified that they would crash, that something would go wrong, but of course it didn't, the ship was lifting off as normal. Now that they were further up she could see the spaceport, rapidly growing smaller and smaller.

This ... this was really, truly happening. This was happening. She was leaving Skaia.

Oh, Dad, oh, Poppop—no, no, she would not cry! She wouldn't!

To distract herself, Jane stared hard out the window, keeping her face turned away from all her friends. Mydoa faded away as they kept going higher and higher and higher, until she could see coastlines and mountain ranges, and then she could see continents, and then suddenly she could see the curve of the planet, and she realized with a horrible sick feeling in her stomach that they weren't leaving, they had truly _left _Skaia now.

For the next few hours, the ship would drift towards Prospit-Derse. Jane stared out the window some more until she felt a hot tear running down her cheek as she looked down at that beautiful, horrible blue sphere that was her home.

"Jane." Dirk's hand found hers, warm and comforting. She leaned over and pressed her face into his shoulder, and he held her, saying nothing more. For a few moments, she stayed just like that, not moving, taking solace in his presence. Then she lifted her head to see all of her friends looking at her, concerned. Something about that made this hopeless voyage seem warmer, and she managed a small, wavery smile at them.

This time, when she turned to the window again, she was aware of the gentle hand holding hers, and as the blue sphere slowly, serenely receded amid the innumerable stars glistening beyond, she thought that perhaps, she wasn't leaving home behind after all.

* * *

_End._

* * *

_AN: Ohhh my god._

_It's done._

_It is with mixed emotions and mostly amazement and jubilation that I mark this story complete. I can hardly believe it! Sixty chapters, over two hundred thousand words, and exactly one year to the day later, _Darkness and Dreams_ has come to an end. I'm so excited!_

_Now, I'm not done with Magestuck. D&amp;D was only the beginning (and I'm sure that you're thinking "Wow, Songbird, this is a shitty way to end the story, you haven't answered all the questions you raised"). In maybe a month or so, depending on how fast I get outlines and drafts done, be on the lookout for _Shadows and Starlight_, the sequel. More Magestuck adventures are still to come!_

_ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND THANK YOUS:_

_Firstly, I extend a huuuge thanks to LordPeanut, who beta'ed some chapters and talked plot with me at strange hours of night and day, time zones be damned. She's been a great help, and I am so glad she reviewed that first time because look how far we've come as a result! _

_Second, another huge thank you thank you thank you to MLP Mike, who made the cover art! It's gorgeous and I love it and Mike, you're the bomb. :D_

_Third, shoutout and thanks to Snowy the Sane Fangirl, who has done the most amazing thing and made this fic into a podfic! You can find it on my tumblr under the magestuck tag. It's amazing and makes this fic bearable!_

_And I can't thank those of you who have made fanworks of my fanfic enough - I would list you here but I am afraid I'd forget someone! But you know who you are, and know that you have mu utmost thanks and adoration. :)_

_Then, thank you so so much, to my reviewers. You are the ones who give me motivation to write and to continue, even in the darkest days. You are truly all wonderful people._

_Finally, thank _you_, reader, for making it all this way! Thank you thank you thank you! You are the best, and your support means so much._

_Thank you all for staying with me on this awesome journey, whether you've been here from the start or you've just come (or even if you're reading this later when everything's published and you're not waiting on updates anymore)! I hope you'll come back later for S&amp;S!_


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